Two-thirds of the UK’s first horizontal shale gas well was not fracked during a nine-week operation last autumn, according to reports that the company, Cuadrilla, tried to keep secret.
This post has live updates from a meeting in North Yorkshire which could shape planning policy on fracking across the UK.
The Mayor of Malton, in North Yorkshire, has failed in his attempt to bring a legal challenge against the government over the definition of fracking. But he said he had won important concessions in his campaign to restrict the shale gas industry.
Two geoscientists, writing in the journal, Nature, suggested today that official definitions could allow fracking in the UK to “creep under the radar”.
North Yorkshire plans to use a different definition of fracking than the government, despite lobbying by the shale gas industry, it emerged today.
A former climate diplomat has accused the government of treating people with deception and cynicism over the regulation of fracking.
People living near proposed shale gas exploration sites have raised concerns over whether their communities will receive payments promised by the industry.
