The DUP “hasn’t made a decision” on whether it supports fracking or not according to Environment Minister Edwin Poots.
We asked him why two of the party’s MPs sided with the Conservatives to quash a Labour motion that sought to undo Liz Truss’s decision to lift the ban in England and Wales.
DUP Economy Minister Gordon Lyons previously told the Northern Ireland Assembly his party did not support fracking here.
Read more: DUP supports moratorium on fracking, oil and gas exploration in NI
Yet DUP MPs Jim Shannon and Paul Girvan voted against the Labour motion, amid scenes of chaos at Westminster, on Wednesday night that will allow the practice in England and Wales.
Alliance MPs Stephen Farry and the SDLP’s Colum Eastwood and Clare Hannah, voted to ban the extraction of gas by blasting a mix of sand, water and noxious chemicals at high pressures far beneath the earth to fracture rocks and release the gases held there.
It can be extremely environmentally destructive, has caused earthquakes and even poisoned water sources in the US.
Minister Poots said: “In terms of fracking, that is an issue that has been decided at Westminster.
“Fracking has happened in the United States of America, certainly in the early days there was a lot of problems with it.
“It seems to have improved, but Northern Ireland is particularly challenging to do fracking because of the nature of the dispersed development of houses.
“Our Westminster MPs have made their decision but we haven’t discussed it at a party officer level.
“I don’t think fracking will take place in Northern Ireland but I do think that we’ve got awfully high gas prices at the minute and there are huge opportunities in Northern Ireland for biomethane, solar energy, wind energy and to lead the way in producing hydrogen for good purposes... such as heating our homes as opposed to using fossil fuels.”
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