Lincolnshire mayor Andrea Jenkyns, of Reform UK, joins Richard Tice in being ignorant, wilfully or otherwise, of the basic facts of climate change that almost every expert agrees on.
Until recently she sat on the board of the anti-climate-change-initiative Net Zero Watch – which is a rebrand of a think-tank that has been described as “the UK’s most prominent source of climate-change denial”.
She herself has stated the incredible belief that carbon dioxide “is not pollution” and the misleading lie that “many leading scientists…cast informed doubt on the concept of a ‘climate crisis”.
In reality, 90%-100% of climate scientists agree that humans have caused global warming, the number being highest in those with greater expertise. And the IPCC have stated that “Carbon dioxide is responsible for most of global warming”.
She’s been a huge fan of fracking. recently claiming to have “always been pro-fracking”.
Now she’s putting her fandom into practice by holding talks with a fracking company, Egdon Resources, who would like to frack under Gainsborough, one of the towns that fall under her mayoral remit.
A large part of her mayoral campaign material was about how she would save the area from the apparent curse of having solar panels. But she never mentioned that she would like instead to frack it.
The residents of her area are unlikely to be happy about this. Fracking is very unpopular with Britons.
A Yougov poll showed that, counter to what is offer from Mayor Jenkyns, the British public would far rather see a solar farm in their locality than for fracking to take place.
The poll reveals that the British public are seven times more likely to welcome a local solar farm than a gas fracking field. The survey asked respondents to rate which one local energy development they would prefer to be sited nearby; 40% chose a solar farm, 25% chose a wind farm, 10% a nuclear power station and 6% shale gas fracking and boreholes.
The British public in general support solar power:
More than half of the public said they strongly supported solar power specifically, with a third supporting it less strongly. In all, it is endorsed by 87%, with only 1% saying that they were opposed.
Another Yougov survey showed that solar is the method of electricity generation that the most people have a favourable view of – whereas they absolutely hate fracking, it scoring even lower than oil and coal.
Even people who are big fans of oil and gas tend to be dislike fracking.
It is also not allowed to take place at present due to a moratorium on fracking from central government on the basis that it can cause unpredictable earthquakes – but why let a law or a potential environmental disaster ruin your culture war point?
It’s hardly surprising that fracking unpopular. Earthquakes are not the only known downsides of fracking. The process has also been associated with water contamination, air pollution, environmental habitat disruption and an increase in traffic. The set up is also not overly pretty to look at, especially for someone who doesn’t want to see solar panels when they look out of the window.
