Investigative journalist and environmental writer. Specialising in UK onshore oil and gas, fracking and the reaction to it.
The water and energy industries met under one roof today to talk fracking. A conference, hosted by the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management, heard from regulators, the shale industry, consultancies, academics and a campaign organisation.
Events, conferences and key dates this month on fracking and onshore oil and gas. Updated throughout the month as we hear about events. Please let us know if we’ve not included your dates by clicking here.
Our digest of last month’s news about fracking, shale and onshore oil and gas developments in the UK and around the world, including: Refusals of Cuadrilla’s planning applications to frack at Preston New Road and Roseacre Wood: reports, reaction, pictures Approval of Rathlin Energy’s plan for a second […]
Three Lancashire MPs – Mark Menzies, Mark Hendrick and Cat Smith – questioned ministers on key fracking issues this week. Read the transcripts of their questions, the government’s answers and other parliamentary business on: Steps to reduce seismic activity Monitoring of abandoned shale gas wells Flaring at shale […]
The Green Party MP, Caroline Lucas, today urged David Cameron not to overrule the local refusal of Cuadrilla’s fracking plans in Lancashire. Anything that prevented local communities from rejecting fracking would be “fundamentally undemocratic”, she said.
Anti-drilling campaigners say they are “staggered” to discover that the UK’s first coal bed methane production site operates legally without environmental permits. They say this calls into question government statements that the regulation of the oil and gas industry is “gold standard”.
Yesterday the government published an uncensored report on the impacts of shale gas development on rural areas. The document had first been published 11 months ago with more than 60 sections blanked out. But llast month, the Information Commissioner gave Defra, which commissioned the report 30 days to […]
The government has finally released the full report on the impact of shale gas drilling on the rural economy – 11 months after first publishing a heavily redacted version. The full report, commissioned by the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, details the negative impacts of shale […]
Less than 24 hours after councillors refused Cuadrilla’s application to frack in Lancashire, MPs called for multiple new conditions on the process. In a debate this morning, they argued for buffer zones between sites, water and waste recycling, apprenticeships, blight compensation, independent monitoring, bans on fracking in National […]
DRILL OR DROP? 