Most media outlets would either have the public believe that this “dash for gas” is a looming environmental catastrophe, or that shale gas represents a game-changer for the country's energy supplies.
Neither is true, as the government understands very well. And for renewables, the impact of this announcement, or any likely to emerge in the foreseeable future, will be negligible.
It is true that fracking itself potentially carries adverse environmental consequences: tremors, methane leakage, groundwater contamination and other nasties.
Yet
