YP Letters: Fracking may be 55 million years too late

RECENT geological research based on seismic imaging 
reveals that fracking in the UK is likely to be far less profitable than “over-hyped” earlier predictions.

John Underhill, Professor of Exploration Geoscience at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, says it is too late for fracking to be successful in the way it has in the US.

Unlike the geology of Pennsylvania, where Marcellus Shale contains more gas than under most of Europe, the UK’s shale deposits were fractured by tectonic activity along the Atlantic plate 55 million years ago, causing much of the gas to escape.

This view is independently confirmed by Quentin Fisher, Professor of Petroleum Geoengineering at the University of Leeds, who says this highlights “the great uncertainties that exist regarding the likely productivity of shale in the UK”.

Also in agreement is Stuart Haszeldine, Professor of Sedimentary Geology at Edinburgh University, who says the combination of these factors and the higher costs of operating in Britain would make it “extremely difficult” for a UK shale gas industry “to match 
the low price of shipping imports of shale oil and gas from the US”.

This new research is excellent news for the people of Ryedale, currently threatened by fracking, but not so good for the Conservative Party which may be asked to return tens of thousands in “donations” from fossil fuel corporations.

From: Shaun Kavanagh, Leeds.

REGARDING the question “Should all police officers be armed?” I doubt all officers would wish to be armed, nor are some likely to fit the parameters required of an armed officer.

Having been an armed officer, those who carry firearms are selected carefully and I doubt many would meet the requirements. That is not intended to insult, but it is a fact.

A police officer carrying a firearm requires in-depth training and a cool temperament, special skills which not all will possess.

To arm all officers would require a significant change to the selection process. This, in itself, could deter applications from individuals who may possess qualities required of a police officer, but not one who is to be armed.

Thankfully the UK does not have the same gun culture as some countries and, while there are increasing incidents, there are many armed officers on daily patrol ready and able to deal with such occurrences.

High level debates will be required on the subject of all officers being armed and will probably be a long time in the waiting. If the outcome was to arm officers, there would undoubtedly be a significant exodus of officers at all levels, thereby depleting the police service of much-needed experience.

No one should work unpaid

From: Neil F Liversedge, Managing Director, West Riding Personal Finance Solutions, Castleford.

I TOTALLY support and applaud Elizabeth Hudson’s stance on interns (The Yorkshire Post, August 18). We don’t expect anyone to work for free.

We’ve even paid the work-experience 15-year-olds we’ve taken over the years, much to the amazement of careers tutors, as apparently such “largesse” is unheard of.

Some of my peers have told me over the years that I’m nuts, uncommercial and over-generous. Well, it hasn’t affected the success of our business – quite the contrary if anything – plus I get to sleep at night and feel good about what I do.

Obviously Elizabeth can also. Well done her.

Sorry way to treat MP

From David Quarrie, Lynden Way, Holgate, York.

SOME people, especially politicians, are constantly asking for “transparency”, “openness”, “accountability” and “clarity”, but then, when someone dares to put their head above the parapet, and “tell the truth”, as Sarah Champion did over grooming gangs (The Yorkshire Post, August 18), these same people shout the teller down, and demand their removal, silence and an apology!

We’ve made our Brexit bed

From: David Craggs, Shafton Gate, Goldthorpe.

THERE is an expression, rarely used nowadays, but was callously used in days gone by, by unsympathetic parents whose young unmarried daughter had got herself pregnant, and that was “you’ve made your bed, now you’ve got to lie on it”.

In other words, however bad life became, you just had to get on with it. The same expression could now be used by those who voted to remain in the EU.

In other words, however bad the situation becomes, and all present indications are that it will get worse before it gets better, if indeed it does get better, the country has simply to ‘get on with it’. But is this what the majority of those who voted to leave actually voted for? Or did they believe that if it all went pear-shaped, the country could continue its membership of the EU? I suspect that many did so.

A case of poetic licence

From: Peter Hyde, Driffield.

PHILIP Larkin is indeed buried in Cottingham Cemetery (The Yorkshire Post Magazine, August 19). But let me point out that Cottingham is certainly not in Hull. Cottingham is in the East Riding and administered from Beverley.