the British government's response to the Energy and Climate Change Committee's report on shale gas concludes that there is "no evidence that the hydraulic fracturing process itself poses a direct risk to underground water aquifers. That hypothetical and unproven risk [our emphasis] must be balanced against the energy security benefits that shale gas could provide to the UK. We conclude that, on balance, a moratorium in the UK is not justified or necessary at present."

The benefits to the economy (and carbon targets) could be huge – and the government worries about the UK falling behind.

"We are concerned that there could be adverse competitive consequences for the UK if Poland unilaterally develops its shale gas resources within the EU, particularly if their energy policy is driven by energy security," the response reads.

And there's an interested aside: "There is substantial evidence that UK offshore unconventional gas resources could dwarf the potential onshore supplies. While these might be economically unviable at present, 'uneconomic' reserves can become economic quickly as technology and prices shift," according to the response.
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The government recommends that the UK watch Poland, the "barometer of Europe", to see what can be learned. It also calls on the Energy Department to revise policy to take account of cheap gas from new sources from now on. This is big actually. France have tryed to sell nuke to UK and a big offshore windfarm have also been an idea for UK. The focus is on energy in all of the EU. With earlier russia supply disruption(NG through Georgia/Ukraine) and germany want to stop it's nuclear energy, there's big money to be made here and fokus has been on NG a lot.German compagny E.ON has made deals with russia gazprom, but of cause the EU want to be independent from russia, at least they want to be able to say to gazprom that they dont care if they sell their gas to others and most important they dont want to be held hostage. UK has big storrage tanks for NG. Maybe canada could export some of its NG to the EU?
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This is new to me: "France includes nuclear power exit among option"
(Reuters) - France raised the possibility for the first time of pulling out of nuclear power although its energy minister stressed on Friday that this was just one of many scenarios, not the one favored by the government.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/08/us-france-nuclear-idUSTRE76733F20110708

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Germany can phase out nuclear by 2017: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/27/us-germany-nuclear-idUSTRE74Q2P120110527

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German utilities look to Russia for gas and money. * German nuclear phase-out hits earnings, raises emissions

* Gas-fired power production low on carbon emissions.

FRANKFURT, July 20 (Reuters) - Germany's nuclear phase-out has prompted the country's largest utilities to look to energy heavyweight Russia for investments and for natural gas for low-carbon power production.

RWE , Germany's largest power producer, last week revealed it had begun exclusive talks with Russian gas monopoly Gazprom , the world's largest gas producer, about gas and power joint-ventures.
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The faster-than-planned nuclear phase-out in Germany together with a tax on nuclear power is eating away earnings at the power companies, with RWE forecasting three years of falling profits.

It has also put limits on a source of power that has lower carbon emissions than coal-fired plants. This has hit RWE as Germany's largest emitter of the greenhouse gas and also EnBW as it relies more heavily on nuclear power than competitors.

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Other parties in the negotiations between Russian and German companies instead want to look for partners in the west.

"We should not ignore the interest of (EU Energy Commissioner Guenther) Oettinger" and talk to potential investors in the west, which are also interested in VNG, said the VNG shareholder.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/20/germany-gas-idUKLDE76J0YR20110720?type=companyNews
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And: Government clears new gas field to counter declines:

LONDON/FRANKFURT, July 25 - The government on Monday approved development of one of the largest untapped gas fields in the UK North Sea, Breagh, in a bid to reverse a trend of production declines since the start of the last decade.

In that period Britain switched from being virtually self-sufficient to last year importing more gas than it produced, increasing dependence on foreign supplies from Norway, Russia and the Middle East.

Falling production from old North Sea fields and an increasingly stringent taxation regime on oil and gas profits has helped drive investors out of the region.

But the decision of German upstream company RWE Dea, which operates Breagh with a 70 percent stake, to plough ahead with its investment despite the tax hike earlier this year has handed the North Sea a much needed boost.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/25/uk-rwe-brief-idUKTRE76O4KL20110725?type=companyNews