You will, no doubt, have seen many media reports around fracking and wondered what the fuss is all about. Fracking (or hydraulic fracturing) is the mechanism by which sand, water and chemicals are pumped into the ground in order to fracture rocks and thereby release the shale gas contained within.

So far so good… but why go to all that trouble?  Well, we live in an economic climate of rising fuel prices, and some people feel that this resulting shale gas could be the answer to the UK’s energy needs.  A recent report indicated over half of the UK could be viable for fracking – 1,300 trillion cubic feet of shale gas in the north of England alone.  Put simply, shale gas could be the new North Sea Gas, for the 21st Century. (more…)

Fracking’ has been in the news a great deal recently.  Developed in the US, fracking is the process of hydraulically extracting shale gas – a natural energy source.  In a culture of diminishing natural energy resources that might, at first, be seen to be a good thing.  However, it is the process itself that is controversial.  A mix of chemicals and water are plunged at high speed into the shale rock, in order to break it up or ‘frac’ture it, and thereby release the gas contained within.

shale gasResulting environmental impact issues have been varied – from minor earth tremors attributed to fracking in the area, to contamination to the water supply (one infamous American documentary appeared to show “flammable” water, which could be ignited like gas).  Such events have naturally set the interests of the environmental lobby against those of big business, concerned more with the fracking rights to areas of the US, and now the UK.  Environmentalists have pitched camps in affected areas, whilst fracking companies have been at pains to assure local people and businesses that the process will have no adverse effects.

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