Climate news around Yorkshire over the last months shows a focus on sewage and solar, as well as a worrying planning application for a fracking site.
Although we may not have noticed here in North Yorkshire, but (meteorological) Summer 2024 was the Earth’s warmest on record, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service. Summer in the meteorological calendar covers the months of June, July and August. It was also the warmest across Europe at 1.54C above the 1991-2020 long term average, exceeding the previous record from 2022. August was also the 13th month in a 14-month period where the global average temperature exceeded 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
Away from the record temperatures, The Yorkshire Post (31 August 2024) reported that Yorkshire Water had committed more than 200 Environment Agency permit breaches over the past two years. A document released to the newspaper by the Agency under Freedom of Information laws revealed that the company had breached its permits 259 times and received a total of 146 warnings between 1 June 2022 and
21 June 2024. Yorkshire Water also breached its permits by discharging sewage materials outside its allocated permits at least 89 times during this time. More at here:
Despite local opposition, full plans for a gas drilling rig at Burniston Mill, Scarborough will be submitted by Europa Oil and Gas to North Yorkshire Council later this year The Yorkshire Post (7 September 2024) has reported. The hydraulic fracking project could take up to 17 weeks and establish whether gas in an underground reservoir could be extracted.
Meanwhile North Yorkshire Council has approved plans to build a solar farm on a five-hectare site next to the A1(M) Wetherby Services. Renewable energy will be used to power the sites EV charging points and will also allow 80 more charging points for customers, according to planning documents. North Yorkshire Council said the solar farm would make an important contribution to meeting commitments around carbon dioxide emissions and climate change. The two parties have agreed on a biodiversity enhancement management plan that will ensure native trees, shrubs and wildflowers are planted. The firm also pledged to manage biodiversity on the site for the next 40 years.