Former Greenpeace boss rebukes “Keep-It-In-The-Ground”

Tindale’s background as a Greenpeace leader shows just how extreme anti-fracking groups like Greenpeace actually are

by Lily Emamian, EnergyInDepth

A former head of Greenpeace made headlines this week when he rebuked his former colleagues’ “Keep-It-In-The-Ground” platform by noting that hydraulic fracturing was “part of the answer” for climate change.

Stephen Tindale, a former Greenpeace executive director from 2000 to 2005, who identified himself as a lifelong green, said,

“Fracking is not the problem…but a central part of the answer.”

Speaking about a newly approved shale gas project in Lancashire, Tindale continued,

“And if activist groups including Greenpeace really want to help the environment, they should stop protesting about projects like this and let them be built as quickly as possible.”

Of course, the UK only has to look across the pond to the United States where increased availability and use of natural gas for electricity generation has enabled Americans to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions significantly.

As Vice Presidential candidate Tim Kaine (D-Va.) has explained, “We’ve been improving our emissions in this county without agreeing to the Kyoto accords, without Congressional action because of innovation form the natural gas area.”

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has also pointed to natural gas having a key role in the United States’ emissions reduction. According to the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report,

“[T]he rapid deployment of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal-drilling technologies, which has increased and diversified the gas supply…is an important reason for a reduction of GHG emissions in the United States.”

As EID reported earlier this year, growth of the natural gas sector has also helped the U.S. secure its energy supply and to reduce prices overall for domestic consumers.

According to data from the EIA, lower oil and natural gas prices have led to a reduction in household energy costs to levels not seen since the 1980s. The EIA reports,

“While both U.S. natural gas consumption and production have increased in recent years, natural gas production has grown slightly faster, resulting in a decline in net imports. Increasing domestic production of natural gas has reduced U.S. reliance on imported natural gas and kept U.S. natural gas prices relatively low.”

Tindale’s background as a Greenpeace leader and environmental advocate show just how extreme anti-fracking groups like Greenpeace – who want to stop the one fuel that’s achieving real results in emission reductions – actually are.