Cuadrilla Faces Five-Week Public Hearing on Fracking in UK

“Now is the time to press ahead and get exploration underway so that we can determine how much shale gas there is and how much we can use,” Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom said in a December statement. Fracking can take place safely with the right safeguards, she said.

Cuadrilla’s activities in Lancashire will clarify the country’s resource potential, according to Egan.

Environmental groups including Friends of the Earth have opposed fracking in the U.K., saying it can pollute groundwater and cause earthquakes. Representatives from the organization will speak at the public inquiry. Those living close to the proposed sites have said the work could mar the landscape and argued the risks outweigh the potential upside.

“There is no evidence that the environmental harm will yield demonstrable economic benefits to the local economy or make any meaningful contribution to the U.K. energy supply,” the Preston New Road Action Group, a residents’ group near one of the proposed exploration sites, said in a report that will be considered during the inquiry.

A survey by the Department of Energy and Climate Change published on Tuesday showed about 44 percent of people in the U.K. are neither for or against fracking, 29 percent oppose it and 23 percent support it.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kelly Gilblom in London at kgilblom@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lars Paulsson at lpaulsson@bloomberg.net Andrew Reierson, Rob Verdonck


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