"Fracking has been going on in the British oil and gas sector for decades and largely flew under the political radar until about 2010, when shale gas extraction started taking off in the United States. At the time, Charles Hendry was the energy minister and at first, he was cautiously optimistic about the prospects for a US-style shale gas boom. But the abortive fracking efforts of the last decade or so have turned the former Tory MP into a sceptic."
"He watched former Prime Minister David Cameron's dash for the gas slow to a crawl after fracking projects were hampered by planning delays, minor earthquakes, legal challenges and persistent protests. As a result, Cameron's promised "shale gas revolution" never materialised and in 2019, tremors were recorded at a fracking site, leading to a ban."
"'We've got potentially hundreds of billions of energy treasure in the form of shale gas,' Richard Tice, the party's deputy leader and energy spokesperson, says. 'It's grossly financially negligent to a criminal degree to leave that value underground and not to extract it.'"
Shale gas in the UK faces long-standing political and environmental opposition despite reported large underground reserves. Hydraulic fracturing has been banned multiple times since 2011 over earthquake risks and environmental impacts. Reform UK advocates renewed shale extraction, claiming hundreds of billions in potential energy value and urging energy firms to prepare to "drill, baby, drill" if elected. Earlier government enthusiasm stalled because of planning delays, minor earthquakes, legal challenges and persistent protests. A 2019 tremor at a fracking site triggered a ban and increased scepticism among former proponents.
Read at www.bbc.com
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