Scott Macnab: Don't toss away our scientific legacy

Anti-fracking campaigners fear explosions and tremors, but were still waiting for science to have its say. Picture: Lisa FergusonAnti-fracking campaigners fear explosions and tremors, but were still waiting for science to have its say. Picture: Lisa Ferguson
Anti-fracking campaigners fear explosions and tremors, but were still waiting for science to have its say. Picture: Lisa Ferguson
FRACKING banned, GM crops outlawed, no chief scientific adviser'¦ what happened to the nation that pioneered progress, wonders Scott Macnab

Scotland’s proud heritage of scientific progress and discovery has helped shape the modern world. From James Clerk Maxwell lifting the veil on the world of electromagnetism, paving the way for television, mobile phones and radio, to the creation of Dolly the Sheep, the world’s first cloned mammal, in Edinburgh, the nation has often been in the scientific vanguard.

So when the leading microbiologist Professor Hugh Pennington warned last year that many leading experts are wary of working with the Scottish Government amid growing concerns of an “anti-science” approach, it’s time to worry. He spoke out as ministers struggled to fill the role of chief scientific adviser and after the highly controversial decision to ban the use of genetically modified (GM) crops in Scotland without scientific advice. In most nations the chief scientific adviser would be seen as having a vital strategic role. In Scotland, the post has been vacant for over a year.

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Meanwhile, another issue of scientific contention looks poised to play a central role in the Holyrood election campaign. Opposition to fracking among Scotland’s political classes is mounting. The practice sees hydrocarbons such as methane gas captured from deep underground rocks by pumping a high pressure water mixture into them. Scotland’s Central Belt alone is sitting on trillions of cubic feet of the stuff. It could alone provide enough gas to meet the country’s needs for the next half-century and firms are keen to undertake drilling exploration to establish its commercial viability. But the British Geological Survey which uncovered this potential two years ago only served to reignite the row between environmentalists and energy firms. There have been fears that fracking could contaminate water supplies and even cause mild earth tremors, as well as the broader concern about burning more fossil fuels. A report ordered by the SNP government from an expert scientific panel concluded in 2014 that there were no significant technological barriers to developing fracking and that it could be conducted safely. That didn’t stop energy minister Fergus Ewing imposing a “moratorium” – an indefinite ban – on fracking while further research is undertaken. It prompted one of the members of the panel, Professor Paul Younger, to claim ministers’ reasons were “all made up” and “completely feigned”.

And now most of the main parties at Holyrood are lining up to outdo themselves in their opposition to fracking. Labour have pledged an outright ban. Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie recently announced his party would be campaigning against fracking – despite members at their recent conference voting to lift the moratorium. The Greens’ position is certainly more grounded in long-held political conviction. The mounting opposition has prompted Nicola Sturgeon to declare she is “highly sceptical” about the practice – despite ministers still awaiting the findings of the research. The fact that it is also widespread in the North Sea oil and gas industry seems to be by-the-by. And remember, this technology has brought about a shale revolution in the US and seen energy prices plummet. It has even been a key factor in the current global oil price crash as Saudi Arabia ramped up production levels to see off the looming competition from US fracking.

Let’s not forget it is also fracked US gas which has saved Scotland’s biggest industrial site at Grangemouth. The cheap methane is shipped across the Atlantic and pumped into the giant gas “cracker” at the site’s petrochemical plant where it is turned into plastics. Are our politicians saying it’s acceptable for fracking to take place in America to keep the furnaces blowing at Grangemouth, securing up to 800 local jobs – but not in Scotland?

The ban on GM crops in Scotland throws up a similar conundrum. They may not be allowed in fields in Scotland, but research will still be undertaken in Scottish labs to allow the development of GM crops. Presumably these advances could then be planted in fields elsewhere around the globe – just not in our backyard. And GM ingredients are, of course, widespread in Scotland’s supermarket shelves in the age of a global food chain. Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead claimed no scientific advice was needed for the ban – it was done for reputational purposes and to protect the good name of Scotland’s food and drink industry. Nonetheless, it came under fire from the previous incumbent of the Chief Scientific Adviser’s role, Professor Muffy Calder, over the absence of evidence. She warned the move could have ‘’apocalyptic’’ consequences.

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The need to take a hard look at the evidence is also posing increasingly tough questions for the SNP’s trenchant opposition to nuclear power. This has been a great article of faith for the party in recent decades. That’s unlikely to change. But ministers must surely be aware of the key role nuclear is now destined to play for generations to come in the country’s future energy supply. The fact that the SNP has agreed to extend the life of both Scotland’s nuclear power plants at Hunterston B and Torness suggests a hard-headed pragmatism which belies the coruscating rhetorical bile Nationalists pour down on this technology. The prospect of Scotland keeping the lights on by virtue of the growing and welcome emergence of renewable energy sources alone remains remote. And the closure of Longannet, Scotland’s biggest power station, leaves a massive hole in the energy supply.

As the Scottish election battle intensifies in the weeks ahead, campaign rhetoric and tempers will inevitably surge. But our political leaders surely have a duty to bear in mind Scotland’s rich scientific past and not betray that legacy for quick, easy votes.

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