Letters: Fuel to revitalise economy is lying beneath our feet

I am surprised that there was no mention of an energy source, which could make the UK less reliant on foreign imports and expensive renewables. I refer to shale gas, which has transformed the United States energy industry with gas prices now half of what they were three years ago, thus lowering electricity prices, stabilising manufacturing costs and attracting foreign investment. It could revitalise the British economy. There are trillions of cubic feet of shale gas deposits in the north-east of England, under the North Sea and in Scotland. This promises to be a new energy frontier, which will provide cheaper energy for at least the next century. Shale gas would raise billions in taxes and cut CO2 emissions by displacing higher-emitting fossil fuel such as coal. Shale gas could prevent the installation of more than 4000 large wind turbines. Now there is an incentive! We should stop building these inefficient wind turbines and use the subsidies to exploit this discovery using British machines, British labour and British engineers. Clark Cross, Springfield Road, Linlithgow Blinkered view of recent climate ENVIRONMENT Minister Stewart Stevenson believes that Scotland has a “moral obligation“ to set an example of how to tackle climate change. Given our microscopic input into global “pollution”, I find that extremely pompous. One approach I’ve never seen advanced is to learn from history and instead of “fighting” climate change look at ways of adapting to it. There seems to be a blinkered view that our recent climate is the best available and that we should take whatever steps, however futile, to preserve it. Mr Stevenson himself acknowledges increasing emission levels despite all the drastic measures so far undertaken. When any action fails to achieve its aim, it’s futile to persevere with more of the same. This produces only successive unproductive gatherings of people pushing their own agendas. Our planet’s entire history illustrates repeated adaptation by all its life forms to climate transformations much more severe than the present one, so it would be a much better idea to drop all the biased arguments and money-making scams and concentrate on fitting in. Robert Dow, Ormiston Road, Tranent Sky-high cost of delay at airport I RECENTLY dropped off a friend and it cost me £5 because I was delayed by some pedestrians stumbling over airport cleaning equipment at the entrance and then again at the exit because a motorist hadn’t brought the right change to the slot machine there. He couldn’t get out of the place and then reversed back to me. I was then jammed in because of the queue behind me. A one-minute task therefore turned into a 15-minute nightmare for which I was charged £5! I can’t wait for the trams to appear there in about 100 years! John Addison, Edinburgh It’s time to rebel against the Left MARTIN Hannan declares war on the Government, he calls for arms, he want all of us to “down our tools” to tell “crass idiots running the country” that he’s had enough (News, November 29). I’ve had enough too. Enough of Comrade Hannan and his pals from the unions telling us that its our duty to top up their pensions and telling us how precious they are for our country. They are just as precious as the rest of us. Plumbers, cabbies, painters or check-out people in the supermarkets. Public sector people don’t work for free. They receive salaries as good as, or better than, private sector workers. Comrade Hannan goes on about the “unwritten covenant” that serving the public means that you get job guarantee for lower wages (not true any more) and generous pension (co-funded by taxpayers). Well, nothing lasts forever. We live far longer and as left-wing parties have been telling us for years we are all equal in right and duties. Or maybe we are not? Walter Kazmierczak, Duke Place, Edinburgh