Whereas a couple of years ago there was no indication there was any prospect of the shale gas bonanza in the UK, a licence has now been granted for drilling in Scotland. SEPA (Scottish Environmental Protection Agency) has granted a licence to Greenpark Energy to drill near Canonbie just north east of Gretna. More details here and here.
Recently Cuadrilla estimated there is 200 trillion cubic feet of gas underground Lancashire. Although not all of it may be recoverable, that equates to several decades of UK supply.
The SEPA principal policy officer seems to be unperturbed by the scare language of some opponents:
"I don't associate the risks associated with fracking as being any more significant than a lot of things we do. They are not high risk provided they are done properly."The Friends of the Earth spokesperson is to be commended for predictably managing to get the following alarm into her very short quote in The Herald report: ". . . increasing lists of the devastating impacts of fracking. . . emissions from fracking could be higher than coal. . . the Government should place an immediate ban on fracking." Well I suppose that is what you is paid for.
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