YP Letters: Opposition shows that the North does not back fracking

WHERE’S the support for fracking the North? Matt Ridley writes that “the tiny group of middle-class southerners who go north to protest about this stuff are not representative of public opinion” on fracking.

Presumably, he’s suggesting that the public generally or people in the North support fracking.

I can’t see any evidence for that claim. When North Yorkshire County Council was deciding whether to allow fracking in Ryedale, 4,375 residents objected. Just 36 wrote in in support.

Third Energy’s application for fracking in Kirby Misperton was also opposed by Ryedale District Council, every Ryedale town council, 15 parish councils and businesses like Flamingo Land and the Castle Howard Estate, as well as organisations like the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust.

Cuadrilla’s plans for fracking in Lancashire were even less popular. There, 27,000 residents wrote in to object and the Preston New Road application was opposed by Westby Parish Council and Fylde Borough Council before the application was turned down by Lancashire County Council in 2015.

Fracking is so unpopular that the Government took the unprecedented step to overturn Lancashire County Council’s decision in the autumn of 2016 in order to force it through, a decision facing a legal challenge.

From: Paul Morgan, Canberra View, Barton-Upon-Humber.

IT was interesting to read the article by Matt Ridley on fracking, and the response from Christopher Pickles (The Yorkshire Post, March 16). Both contain the usual mix of half-truths, dissemination and over simplifications.

Taking Christopher’s letter, he makes the case for renewables such as wind, solar and tidal. However he fails to acknowledge that these forms of energy generation also have their environmental impact, which, amongst other things, can affect the lives of those living alongside them, and just as much as fracking might in Ryedale. There is no such thing as “green” energy, every form of energy generation has some negative affect on the environment.

Christopher also appears to imply that we don’t need fracked gas because we can get our gas from other countries. However, in an indirect way, this may solve the problem. If Trump’s energy policies in the US come to fruition, the world could be awash with cheap, fracked gas, which could make the extracting of gas in Ryedale uneconomic, at least in the medium term.