The UK‘s number one manufacturing exporter has expressed its support for the government’s decision to allow the resumption of shale gas exploration in the UK.

Chief Executive of The Chemical Industries Association, Steve Elliott said  “We appreciate that there are concerns in some quarters that the widespread use of shale gas could compromise the UK’s climate policy goals. But CIA believes that there are good reasons to look at the situation from the opposite perspective: without gas as a back-up for the current unpredictable and unreliable renewables, the UK has no realistic chance of meeting these goals”.

Without the benefit of hydro or pumped or other storage of comparable capacity, the only feasible balancing method for wind in the UK will be gas. CIA does not see lower-carbon energy technologies as alternatives to gas, but rather as dependent on gas availability.

Elliott continued, “The dual opportunity presented by shale gas can make an essential contribution to our energy and feedstock requirements within the next 7 to 10 years and would offer valuable employment solutions and enable us to compete on the world stage with our products and solutions to drive UK economic recovery and growth”.

Notes to Editors:

For an interview with Steve Elliott, please contact Simon Marsh, 07951 389197

The Chemical Industries Association www.cia.org.uk Is the Trade Association and Employers Federation for Chemcial and Pharmaceutical businesses located throughout the UK