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People in England can find out if fracking could come to their area by entering their postcode in a new interactive map, which illustrates the regions covered by oil and gas licences.
Over a quarter of local authorities are covered by existing licences to explore for oil and gas, which could involve fracking, according to new analysis by campaigners Friends of the Earth, which developed the tool.
Prime Minister Liz Truss has pledged to lift the ban on fracking – imposed in 2019 after a public outcry over minor earthquakes – to exploit England’s “huge reserves of shale”.
Further detail on the lifting of the moratorium, and whether the government will relax rules around earthquake levels and planning, is expected in the coming days.
A leaked copy of a review to assess progress on the safety of the practice admits that forecasting earthquakes related to fracking “remains a scientific challenge,” according to The Guardian.
Campaigners have been calling for the publication of the report, which was delivered to the business and energy department on 5 July, just before Boris Johnson’s resignation as PM announcement threw the government into disarray.
A new licencing round is on the horizon amid the new government’s fracking drive to boost energy security.
‘Fantasy land’
The new prime minister claims gas could start flowing in fewer than six months, but experts say it would take years, is very difficult to access and would have little impact on energy bills.
“Energy security is important,” Friends of the Earth campaigner Danny Gross told Sky News. But fracking’s unpopularity and England’s geological limitations mean the government is “living in a fantasy land if it thinks that fracking is the answer,” he said.
Ms Truss, a former industrial economist for Shell, has promised her fracking drive will take place where there is “local support”.
But the most recent government polling finds just 17% of the public supported fracking in autumn 2021, compared…
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Source : skynews
