2015年经济学人 页岩气开采在英国引发争议

Shale¹ gas

Raise the pressure

Government dithering keeps frackers above ground

FOR all the debate about it, Britain's shale-gas industry is minuscule².

Whereas roughnecks in America have sunk many thousands of wells since a boom began more than a decade ago,

Britain has fracked at only one test site, in Lancashire, and not since 2011.

In a report published on May 8th, an all-party group from the House of Lords said

that speeding shale-gas exploration should be an “urgent national priority”.

So far, so familiar—and entirely³ in tune⁴ with the position of the coalition⁵ government.

But the authors go on to blame the government, not green campaigners, for holding the frackers up.

The Lords' economic-affairs committee argues that shale gas could boost Britain's economy while reducing its dependence⁶ on imports.

It says that proper oversight⁷ can limit the environmental and health risks associated with fracking.

And it recognises that burning more gas instead of coal—which is still used to generate more than one-third of Britain's electricity—

could be a cheap and sustainable way to lower the country's carbon emissions⁸ while waiting for pricey renewable technologies to mature.

But a thicket⁹ of regulation has slowed progress to a crawl.

Although dozens of test wells are needed even to calculate the extent of Britain's shale-gas reserves,

Cuadrilla, an oil and gas firm, reckons it could take more than a year to get clearance¹⁰ for each site.

Part of the problem is that several government agencies share responsibility for approving fracking applications.

The Lords worry that unwieldy rules will not make the business much safer but could prod¹¹ shale-gas firms into seeking far richer pickings abroad.

Complaints about bureaucracy are embarrassing to a government that has promised to go “all out for shale”,

and which is busily finding ways to stop critics beyond Westminster from holding up the industry.

It has persuaded shale-gas firms to put ￡100,000 ($170,000) into a fund for local causes each time they drill a test site.

In January it promised to let local councils keep all the money frackers pay in business rates, up from half at present.

Next month it will probably announce plans to make it easier for fracking firms to drill tunnels deep beneath people's homes.

Pushing through that proposal will mean fending¹² off noisy opposition¹³ from environmental lobbies such as Greenpeace,

which had hoped its supporters could use Britain's aged¹⁴ trespass¹⁵ laws to make life difficult for shale-gas boosters.

Such campaigns carry weight while most Britons are still making up their minds about the industry.

The proportion in favour of fracking has shrunk since lively protests erupted at a drill site near Balcombe in Sussex last summer;

it may keep sliding until a few pioneers prove it can be safe and unobtrusive. All the more reason to get cracking.

1 shale   

n.页岩，泥板岩

参考例句：

• We can extract oil from shale.我们可以从页岩中提取石油。
• Most of the rock in this mountain is shale.这座山上大部分的岩石都是页岩。

2 minuscule   

adj.非常小的；极不重要的

参考例句：

• The human race only a minuscule portion of the earth's history.人类只有占有极小部分地球历史。
• As things stand,Hong Kong's renminbi banking system is minuscule.就目前的情况而言，香港的人民币银行体系可谓微不足道。

3 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

4 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

5 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

6 dependence   

n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属

参考例句：

• Doctors keep trying to break her dependence of the drug.医生们尽力使她戒除毒瘾。
• He was freed from financial dependence on his parents.他在经济上摆脱了对父母的依赖。

7 oversight   

n.勘漏，失察，疏忽

参考例句：

• I consider this a gross oversight on your part.我把这件事看作是你的一大疏忽。
• Your essay was not marked through an oversight on my part.由于我的疏忽你的文章没有打分。

8 emissions   

排放物( emission的名词复数 )； 散发物（尤指气体）

参考例句：

• Most scientists accept that climate change is linked to carbon emissions. 大多数科学家都相信气候变化与排放的含碳气体有关。
• Dangerous emissions radiate from plutonium. 危险的辐射物从钚放散出来。

9 thicket   

n.灌木丛，树林

参考例句：

• A thicket makes good cover for animals to hide in.丛林是动物的良好隐蔽处。
• We were now at the margin of the thicket.我们现在已经来到了丛林的边缘。

10 clearance   

n.净空；许可(证)；清算；清除，清理

参考例句：

• There was a clearance of only ten centimetres between the two walls.两堵墙之间只有十厘米的空隙。
• The ship sailed as soon as it got clearance. 那艘船一办好离港手续立刻启航了。

11 prod   

vt.戳，刺；刺激，激励

参考例句：

• The crisis will prod them to act.那个危机将刺激他们行动。
• I shall have to prod him to pay me what he owes.我将不得不催促他把欠我的钱还给我。

12 fending   

v.独立生活，照料自己( fend的现在分词 )；挡开，避开

参考例句：

• He is always spending his time fending with the neighbors. 他总是与邻里们吵架。 来自互联网
• Fifth, it is to build safeguarding system and enhance the competence in fending off the risk. 五是建立政策保障体系，提高防范和抵御风险的能力。 来自互联网

13 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

14 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

15 trespass   

n./v.侵犯，闯入私人领地

参考例句：

• The fishing boat was seized for its trespass into restricted waters.渔船因非法侵入受限制水域而被扣押。
• The court sentenced him to a fine for trespass.法庭以侵害罪对他判以罚款。