The Green Party has accused the government of showing ’utter contempt’ by continuing a push for fossil fuel extraction in Manx waters.

Technical and fiscal advice is being sought by the Department of Infrastructure, to assist in the ’exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons’.

The move was announced in a tweet posted by the Attorney General.

But the Green Party said the timing of this announcement displayed ’utter contempt’ for the Manx parliament’s acknowledgement of a climate emergency.

Last week, a large protest took place outside Legislative Buildings, as part of global demonstrations calling for action to tackle climate change.

The Green Party says fracking and any extraction of hydrocarbons from the island seabed is ’entirely inconsistent’ with government announcements to date. A press release said: ’The timing of this announcement by the government, in the week of global climate change strikes across the world, displays an utter contempt for the Isle of Man’s global responsibilities and for the announcement of a climate emergency.’

The Green Party said Chief Minister Howard Quayle’s declaration of a climate emergency, the Biosphere pledge, and the appointment of Professor James Curran to lead a climate change transformation team had been exposed as ’empty words against a background of a climate catastrophe’.

In October 2018, Isle of Man-based company Crogga was granted a licence to explore oil and gas deposits, about 10 miles off Maughold Head.

It was thought the company would begin an initial seismic survey of the area in spring this year, but it’s understood this did not take place.

Ballasalla-based Crogga must seek further approval from government, before any exploratory drilling can take place.

The seabed off Maughold was previously explored by BP in the 1980s and 90s but advances in technology may now make further exploration and extraction a more viable proposition.

An online petition against ’fracking’ in the Irish Sea, initiated by the Isle of Man Friends of the Earth, collected 1,844 signatures last year.

But Ken Milne, the government’s director of energy policy, insists the proposals do not include fracking of shale deposits, which has sparked such concern on the Fylde coast of Lancashire, where it has led to earth tremors.

He explained that the form of offshore hydraulic fracturing that will be used to extract fossil fuels from sandstone deposits off our north east coast has been safely carried out in the North Sea for more than 20 years.

Dr Milne said there was ’no will, permission or intent in place from Tynwald to pursue fracking’.