WHAT the frack is going on? Fergus Ewing's announcement of a moratorium on unconventional shale gas extraction in Scotland met a very odd reaction. Companies who want to get cracking with fracking warmly welcomed the move. Meanwhile, politicians who had been calling for such projects to be blocked condemned it.

If the fall-out from the energy minister's Holyrood statement on Wednesday left you confused, don't worry: that's probably the only appropriate response. The future of fracking seems to have been lost in a fog of politicking. It's a sorry situation to be in. Supporters talk of an industry that would bring jobs, cheap fuel and vital tax revenues. Opponents warn of irreparable environmental damage. Some proper clarity would not go amiss.

The issue has been high on the agenda at Westminster and Holyrood all week. On Monday, the Commons Environmental Audit Committee issued a report calling for a moratorium while environmental risks were assessed further. Later the same day, MPs voted against a 30-month delay during a final debate on the Government's infrastructure bill. However, ministers were forced to accept Labour proposals demanding that 13 new conditions, including environmental assessments and local consultations, be met before shale gas extraction can take place.

At Holyrood, Mr Ewing announced an indefinite moratorium on fracking in Scotland pending further health and environmental inquiries. He also ordered a full public consultation.

Chemicals giant Ineos, which has bought up fracking exploration licences around its Grangemouth refinery, reacted with horror to MPs' calls for a moratorium. "Without shale gas, UK manufacturing will start to collapse," warned director Tom Crotty. "So we need to kick start the shale gas industry, not put it on hold." The company quickly changed its tune, however, when the Scottish Government imposed a delay. Welcoming the move, a spokesman said: "Ineos understands the importance of public consultation". Industry body UK Onshore Oil and Gas performed a similar about turn. Having warned "a moratorium in Scotland achieves nothing" when Jim Murphy called for one last week, UKOOG chief executive Ken Cronin embraced the Scottish Government's plan. "We recognise the general public have concerns about the issues around fracking and welcome this opportunity to present the facts," he said.

To add to the confusion, the SNP criticised Labour MPs for failing for to back a full moratorium at Westminster, while Labour MSPs attacked the Scottish Government for not going far enough. They argued Scotland required greater protection than the rest of the UK, a position which appeared to have less to do with the environment and everything to do with a looming general election and opinion polls suggesting opposition to fracking is stronger north of the Border than south.

None of this has provided much reassurance to anti-fracking campaigners. Pressure group Frack Off Scotland have been calling for a moratorium and welcomed the announcement when it came, but they are in no mood to furl up their banners any time soon. They feel they have won a battle but not the war. The moratorium, campaigner Ed Pybus told The Herald, was a "setback" for the industry, no more. He accused Labour, the SNP and the Lib Dems of "playing politics" - of competing with each other to sound tough on fracking while leaving the door open to the industry in future. "We are concerned it has merely been kicked into the long grass beyond the General Election and the 2016 Holyrood election and in a couple of years, when the heat is off, planning permission starts being granted," he said.

The campaigners' suspicions are fuelled partly by claims Mr Ewing is privately enthusiastic about fracking. As The Herald's sister paper, the Sunday Herald, revealed last week, he was accused by fellow SNP MSP Joan McAlpine of damaging the Government's credibility with his apparent support for a controversial plan to mine coal bed methane at Canonbie, Dumfries & Galloway. In his statement on Wednesday, Mr Ewing reminded MSPs of Ineos' desire to use shale gas at Grangemouth, adding: "I am sure that I do not need to remind members of Grangemouth's economic importance to the Scottish economy."

Which leaves us where? Public opinion has stiffened the political response to fracking but for how long? The answer might lie with Mr Ewing's public consultation. Tens of thousands of people responded to previous high profile consultations on the smoking ban, gay marriage, human trafficking and the independence referendum. If similar numbers oppose fracking, the moratorium might prove hard to lift.

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