Geologists from North East universities have reacted to the Government lifting the ban on fracking by saying that the UK has the "wrong type of shale."
Lifting the fracking ban on Thursday September 22 has been met with concerns over earthquakes and an increase in greenhouse gas production, while it has also been slammed by environmental organisations and opposition parties. The controversial go-ahead has meant new Prime Minister Liz Truss is facing a political backlash, with the move breaking a Tory manifesto promise that England's moratorium would not be lifted unless "the science shows categorically that it can be done safely."
Fracking, the process of hydraulic fracturing, was paused in 2019 following worries about earthquakes in west Lancashire. A Government-commissioned report by the British Geological Survey (BGS) suggests more data was needed, but despite the lack of scientific progress, Ms Truss's administration have decided to press ahead anyway.
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A Number 10 spokeswoman rejected the suggestion that the Prime Minister sees the 2019 manifesto as redundant on Thursday night, while The Government also argued that "limited understanding should not be a barrier to fracking, but instead a reason to drill more wells to gather further data." Business and Energy Secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg said the impact of Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine meant that securing domestic energy supplies was vital, was in the national interest and would make the country richer.
However, Rees-Mogg was confronted with anger from Tory MPs in areas where fracking could occur. East Yorkshire MP Sir Greg Knight told Rees-Mogg that forecast earthquakes as a result of fracking remained a challenge for experts, adding: " The safety of the public is not a currency in which some of us choose to speculate.
Rees-Mogg incensed MPs further by saying it was "sheer Ludditery" to oppose fracking, to which Fylde's Tory MP Mark Menzies responded: "There's nothing Luddite about the people of Lancashire of Fylde."
The Labour Party added that the Truss Government had created a "charter for earthquakes and the Liberal Democrats said voters in rural areas were being treated as "guinea pigs" for the fracking industry.
Professor Jon Gluyas, Dean of Knowledge Exchange at Durham University, said: "Liz Truss hopes to frack us out of the energy crisis by drilling thousands of wells to produce shale gas. It won’t work – societal objections aside, we have the wrong kind of shale and geology which is far too complex.
"Indeed, even the founder of Cuadrilla – of Lancashire fracking fame a few years ago – says the same."
Professor Stuart Haszeldine, a geologist at Edinburgh University, added: "We are massively late by 280 million years. Much of the UK's shale gas had simply leaked away through cracks and faults since it was formed."
"I see this as a very significant commercial risk. You can come in and lose a whole pile of money."
However, Professor Richard Davies, a petroleum geologist from Newcastle University, would not write off the possibility of fracking being viable in the UK, saying: "Everything I have learned from the oil industry shows that there are surprises underneath the surface of the Earth. We don’t know everything."
Professor Gluyas said that while much of the focus has been on the north-west of England, two potential sites for fracking development where Somerset, where Jacob Rees-Mogg has his constituency and shale oil in Norfolk, close to the Prime Minister's constituency. He finished: "They might just like to lead the way."
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