The shale gas story is still getting a fair amount of media play. In the Times (reproduced at GWPF), Matt Ridley looks at the most common scare stories put round by the green movement in their ceaseless struggle to find some mud that they can get to stick.
In the meantime, Zoe Williams in the Guardian looks at energy policy as a whole. This is interesting stuff, because it gets near to sensible at times, which is not something one finds oneself saying about that particular publication very often.
...all energy production causes environmental damage. Even the people who love the look of windfarms have to admit to the scenic damage caused by the roads and surrounding infrastructure they need. Coal mines, nuclear facilities … which of these things could you say looked pretty? An opposition whose fundamental principle is, "energy from anywhere, unless it's near me" is just individualism dressed up as environmentalism.
But it's not all good. Having admitted that renewables are not ready for prime time...
the lowest carbon fuels are renewables; they're not yet ready to supply all the country's energy;
...she then concludes that we should invest in them. In her view, we should spend money on gas to ensure that the lights stay on, and continue to throw money at wind power, which she admits doesn't deliver the goods.