Why fracking is not feasible in this country and won't solve the energy crisis - Yorkshire Post Letters

Liz Truss has decided to lift the moratorium on fracking for shale gas.

She demonstrates her total lack of knowledge about this industry. During this present energy crisis, I feel that it is cruel for her to tell worried citizens that fracking will solve our energy problems.It will not.

I hope that Yorkshire Post readers will have read and remembered the recent letters from Dr. Simon Sweeney and Mike Potter about the realities of fracking.These being - the vast numbers of wells which would need to be drilled. The millions of gallons of water needed for one frack (think about the recent droughts).

The toxic chemicals which are mixed with that water. The infrastructure of pipes and pumping stations. The decimation of our countryside. The inability to dispose of used fracked water safely. The risk of earthquakes. Health issues for humans and animals living near fracking sites.We know that gas prices are set globally.

We know that this country’s gas producers sell gas to dozens of other countries for profit. The gas “beneath our feet" is not ours. It will not benefit us.

Prof Jon Gluyas, director of the Durham Energy Institute, tells us: "We have the wrong kind of shale". Ours in the UK is rich in malleable clays that won't hold a fracture well. He says that our island is too crowded to get in the thousands of wells needed.

Prof Stuart Haszeldine from the school of GeoSciences at the University of Edinburgh says "An inconvenient fact-like it or not, the UK has not discovered any good shale for onshore gas production".

He goes on to say, "The gas is hard to extract. The total gas produced by Cuadrilla from Lancashire could be enough to provide heating and hot water to 508 3-bed semi-detached houses for 18 days. Not much to show after spending eight years and tens of millions of pounds.”

Jacob Rees Mogg has recently stated that fracking is "clean".

I strongly suggest that he and Liz Truss take the trouble to educate themselves about the realities of the fracking industry. They certainly would not wish to live near a fracking site.