FERGUS EWING: Inconvenient truths in the battle for energy future
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A very long time ago I debated with the distinguished Labour MP Tam Dalyell.
For younger readers, Tam was famous for being entirely independent of mind and much admired by his constituents.
So I asked for his advice. He said: “In any campaign you ever run, first get your facts right.” I bore that in mind when preparing for First Ministers Questions last week.
The question was raised by Maggie Chapman, a Green list MSP who wants us to cease all new exploration for gas and, in particular, not develop the Rosebank Field. That field will supply enough gas to power Aberdeen. Its emissions intensity will be less than 15kg of CO2 per barrel and, once electrified, less than 5kg.
The project will bring billions of pounds of investment, and hundreds of jobs, to Scotland. If we do not develop that field we must import even more gas, from places like Qatar and the USA. Much of these imports are Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) from the US whose emissions are generally higher than 70kg. So I posed the question as to whether the First Minister would want to import gas with a gigantic carbon footprint when we have our own to develop here with over four times less emissions.
I poked fun at the Green MSPs, arguing their advocacy of cessation of new developments would cost tens of thousands of jobs. I described this as “economic masochism, advocated by the wine bar revolutionaries in the Greens”.
My use of the phrase “wine bar revolutionaries” attracted the ire of my sister Annabelle, MSP and deputy presiding officer in the chair. She reminded me to treat other members with courtesy and respect.
As I said to her later: “You have waited nearly 60 years to have the chance to give your elder brother a ticking off in public so you were probably entitled to it.”
Hilarity all round, but the facts are simple.
We must produce as much of our own gas and oil as we can. Reliance on foreign imports has not worked well for Germany and other countries following the Russian war against Ukraine.
Many people in Inverness and Nairn work in the industry.
They do a great job for the country.
They should be praised, not pilloried. Their work will be needed for decades to come.
Yes, we are developing our renewable potential.
But it is likely to take decades before we see established major benefits in jobs and the economy.
Fergus Ewing is MSP for Inverness and Nairn.
