The Unit 5 assignment for Green Britain asks students to communicate the knowledge they’ve learned about energy science and climate impacts with diverse audiences by acting as a guest expert during a simulated public news interview. Below are some examples of high-quality student work,

The “Cuse News” zine was creatd by a pair of Fall 2024 students; the podcast was created by a pair of May 2023 students. Before recording their mock radio segment, they researched their problem and prepared a transcript to guide their work. (The audio file has background noise, since they recorded on the train - that’s absolutely fine, given the travelling nature of this course!)

Ceri: 

Good morning listeners! It’s your favorite podcaster, Ceri, with Ceri’s Corner. Today, we are talking about tensions between the Welsh Government’s environmental priorities and Westminster’s actions over oil and gas resources. Joining us is a member of the Welsh Senedd Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure committee, Efa Cadwallader.

Thank you for joining us here today, Efa.

Efa:

Thank you for having me.

Ceri: 

Starting out with a bit of background for our audience: What is the history of fossil fuel mining in Wales?

Efa: 

Great question. Oil extraction began in the 1860s for ‘illuminating oil,’ lubricating oil, and grease but was considered as “unconventional” as there were not many other uses for the product. Mine gas was uneconomic to transfer too far from where it was extracted. So, because cheap exports from Pennsylvania were more affordable and reasonable most coal-oil businesses were bankrupt by the 1870s.

Ceri: 

What about the geologic discovery in West Wales?

Efa: 

In 1941 the first well was drilled for conventional oil and gas. More wells were then drilled and around 1967, there was an “Unexpected outcome” at the Mochras borehole in Gwynedd with discovery of Jurassic rocks. The significance was the potential of hydrocarbons.

Ceri: 

When did the oil drilling finally move offshore?

Efa: 

The first offshore well was drilled in 1971 by Amoco, and many major companies followed suit. There was not any great success until around 1989, by Hamilton Oil company 24 kilometers off the coast of North Wales. Today there are five unconventional and only one remaining onshore conventional license.

Ceri: 

Alright, that’s a good bit of background, Efa, would you be able to elaborate on why oil and gas are still important today?

Efa: 

Of course. Wales used to be such a coal dominated society and economy that all the jobs lost from coal mining still haven’t been recovered today. Thatcher was the prime minister during the time that a lot of coal mining was cut, and when the large population of coal miners were left unemployed, the transition was facilitated very poorly.

Coal is so important as an energy source due to its efficiency. For a bit of background, coal is made of compressed organic matter from millions of years ago, and because this is compressed so densely if you burn it, so much energy is released, much more than say, burning a piece of wood the same size. However, this burning of coal releases CO2 or carbon dioxide into the air, which is a dangerous greenhouse gas contributing to global warming.

Because of this harmful effect, many people want to move away from coal and other fossil fuels such as oil and gas, but the UK has been pushing to continue drilling for oil and gas as a quicker method to obtain energy. This is the issue we will be discussing on the episode today.

Ceri: 

Wow, it might be quite surprising for some people that we still have a reliance on fossil fuels with all of today’s technologies. But, it seems that a lot of people and governments, including Wales, want to move away from fossil fuels and towards more sustainable practices in general. So can you tell me why Wales in particular wants to focus on sustainability, and what they’ve done with those initiatives so far?

Efa: 

Yes, Wales is very focused on sustainability. It was actually the first country to declare a climate emergency back in 2019. We are generally really focused on energy security, energy equity, and environmental sustainability, which all make up the important policy topic of energy. We believe that climate change is the greatest environmental threat that humanity has ever faced, and energy is at the heart of that issue.

Ceri: 

And it’s not just words in your platform, right? You’ve already taken some sustainable actions, perhaps in your very own Senedd building?

Efa: 

Exactly, we’ve really backed up our words and priorities with action and literally built sustainable practices into our infrastructure. For example, our Senedd building was built with sustainable materials, with locally sourced materials from Wales, such as slate which we used on our floors so that we wouldn’t have to replace them. In addition, in the winter, the building is heated by geothermal energy, and instead of having air conditioning, we use the same water system of geothermal to take heat away from the building.

Ceri: 

That’s brilliant, isn’t it? I’ve heard a little about your rainwater collection, could you please tell me more about that?

Efa: 

Of course, so we collect rainwater and use that for different things around the building such as flushing the toilets and maintenance things like washing the windows. This helps alleviate some of the demand on the city’s water, and also saves us a great deal of cost.

Ceri: 

Excellent, it is great to see this focus on sustainability and all the action you’ve already taken around it. It does seem to be a very clear priority, so why does the central Westminster government want to do this offshore drilling that is going directly against these priorities?

Efa: 

That’s a great question, Ceri. In this instance, ministers seem to be making the argument that the UK needs more oil and gas to replace that which was imported from Russia, but drilling in the North sea is ignoring other alternatives and is in direct violation of the UK’s own net zero targets. There are other initiatives that are also taking sort of a step backwards with sustainability along with this drilling one such as failing to loosen planning regulations that would allow more wind farms which the majority of people supported. These policies that favor economic gain over the environment are due to the pressure from the Tory rightwingers, another example of a small group of people in the Westminster government making decisions that do not represent what the majority of people want.

Ceri: 

And I’m sure our listeners can think of several instances throughout history or maybe even during their own lifetime where the Westminster government has ignored the needs of Welsh people. I believe the Aberfan disaster is one of those instances, can you tell me more about that?

Efa: 

Yes, that was a really tragic incident. There was a pile of coal waste stored above a hill in the village that was above a school, and the people in the community asked the National Coal Board to do something about it because they were so worried about it falling. They were completely ignored and the waste ended up sliding downhill as a slurry killing over 100 people, the majority of which were school children. Because of this and other instances where the Welsh people felt that the central authorities really didn’t care about them, Wales was able to get some governing powers through devolution that have slowly expanded to the legislative powers that they have today.

Ceri: 

That’s really terrible, Efa. Does the Welsh government have enough power now to prevent things like that from happening again, and to generally make safer, more sustainable decisions for the state? 

Efa: 

That’s a really complicated question.Even though Wales has the power to make decisions around sustainability and controls the area off the coast where the drilling that we are talking about today would happen, the area itself and the resources with it technically belong to the monarchy which works with the central government who is taking control of these drilling initiatives. In addition, any power that these devolved governments have can be revoked at any time by Westminster since the central parliament has set powers backed by law, and the devolved governments do not.

Ceri: 

Oh that’s rather messy. What about a simple power, like issuing permits for mines and drilling which is involved with this issue?

Efa: 

Well, Wales has the power to issue permits for mining fossil fuels which they do not do because they do not want to, but the UK central government has the power to revoke licenses and there’s one mine still in operation, Aberpergwm mine, that Wales has asked the UK to revoke their license and they refuse to. That is why the Westminster government has the power to override the Welsh priorities and do this drilling, and they are going to keep doing these things until something in our system changes.

Ceri: 

Wow, this is pretty bleak. Westminster can really just steamroll all this progress that Wales is trying to make for the environment.

Efa: 

Sorry to be a downer, but I don’t think change is impossible. Devolution in Wales is pretty new, so we are still working things out and will be adding more representatives in 2026 to help with the new powers and responsibilities that we’ve gained during the devolution process and also Brexit. This is just a small start into hopefully creating a stronger government here in Wales, and also working with Westminster to make responsibilities and powers clear and protected for the future, so that we have the power to protect our environment.

Ceri: 

Thank you for that inspiring message, Efa. I hope our listeners learned something new today, and best of luck with all your important sustainability initiatives. You’re fighting the good fight.

Efa: 

Thank you, Ceri.

Ceri: 

And thank you, my wonderful listeners. It is with your support that Ceri’s Corner is able to produce episodes like this one, so don’t forget to follow and listen to more.