英国政客几乎尝试了稳定能源市场的所有其他选项，因此最终总有人会不经意间撞上正确的主意。为首相安迪·伯纳姆及其开采英国部分国内能源资源的计划喝一声彩。
British politicians have tried pretty much every other option to stabilize their energy markets, so eventually someone was bound to stumble into the right idea. One cheer for Prime Minister Andy Burnham and his plan to tap some of Britain’s domestic energy resources.
伯纳姆政府本周批准了北海杰克道（Jackdaw）气田的天然气钻探。一旦投产，该气田预计产出的天然气将相当于英国国内产量的约 5%。目前国内产量大约满足英国每年天然气消费量的一半。
Mr. Burnham’s administration this week approved natural-gas drilling at the Jackdaw field in the North Sea. The field is expected to produce gas equal to some 5% of Britain’s domestic production once it’s running. Domestic production currently supplies roughly half of Britain’s annual natural-gas consumption.
对工党而言，这一决定比本应有的难度要大得多。约 75% 的英国家庭依靠天然气供暖和热水，更不用说英国残存工业部门的需求。能源价格已成为致命的政治议题，尤其是 2022 年俄罗斯入侵乌克兰扰乱欧洲能源市场之后。那次事件也让供应安全成为焦点。
The decision was harder for Labour than it should have been. About 75% of British households rely on natural gas for heating and hot water, not to mention the needs of what’s left of British industry. Energy prices have become a killer political issue, especially after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 disrupted European energy markets. That episode also brought the security of supply into the spotlight.
然而，伦敦却因其净零排放的气候幻想而陷入瘫痪。前几届政府——工党和 2010 年至 2024 年执政的保守党——坚持强行向可再生能源迈进，给电力市场造成严重破坏。它们还对英国国内化石燃料储备采取敌对态度。陆上水力压裂几近消亡，而一些北海项目陷入繁文缛节，另一些则面临惩罚性暴利税，恐将使其失去经济性。
Yet London has been paralyzed by its net-zero climate fantasies. Previous administrations—Labour and the Conservative Party that was in power from 2010 to 2024—insisted on a forced march toward renewable energy that wreaks havoc on the electricity market. They also adopted a hostile attitude toward Britain’s domestic fossil-fuel reserves. Onshore fracking is all but dead, while some North Sea projects are bogged down in red tape and others are subject to punitive windfall taxes that threaten to make them uneconomical.