There was a lot of fuss in the media in early November when fracking was banned in the UK. Coincidentally, this widely unpopular activity was “banned” about the time the General Election was announced. But after the initial excitement, the ban turned out to be a moratorium, possibly in only specific regions. A moratorium which could be overturned e.g if fracking turned out to be a great idea after the election.
Apart from the Oil and Gas Authority highlighting the public nuisance caused by seismic events of any size, the cost-effectiveness of UK Government spending on fracking has been criticised by the National Audit Office (NAO). There is increasing evidence that the size of extractable shale gas reserves was oversold in the UK and Poland. Local differences in geology and population density as compared with mid-Western US states also seem to have been overlooked when discussing the potential of reserves of gas accessible by fracking.
Demand for whatever gas might emerge one day also seems to have been overestimated. And there’s possibly some correlation with the earthquakes, which are surely a good incentive to go all-electric?
