YP Letters: Theresa May fails to mention the ill effects of fracking

From: Christopher Pickles, Gilling East, York.
Opposition remians to fracking in North Yorkshire.Opposition remians to fracking in North Yorkshire.
Opposition remians to fracking in North Yorkshire.

IN respect of your interview with Theresa May (The Yorkshire Post, February 24), many of your readers will find her replies less than convincing.

The Government’s own report on the future of energy supplies explicitly states that fracked gas is not necessary for energy security.

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As for ‘a very good regulatory regime’, in every country where fracking has taken place ‘gold standard regulation’ has been claimed, nevertheless the results, in terms of health, water purity, agriculture and tourism, have been disastrous for residents.

The ‘shale wealth fund’, if it is ever set up, will bring little benefit. The way that fracking companies are financed – by debt – will mean that there is little profit and therefore little tax revenue to go into the fund. Even if that does not prove to be true, compensation will be woefully inadequate.

A Defra report mentioned a likely loss of seven per cent in house values near fracking sites.

What Mrs May has failed to mention are the devastating effects on the countryside which are inevitable if fracking ever takes off at scale, the health impacts requiring treatment from our already depleted NHS and the effect of emissions that will almost certainly make it impossible for us to fulfil our climate change obligations.