YP Letters: Why were fracking firm's finances not scrutinised sooner?

AS Third Energy leaves the proposed shale well site at Kirby Misperton with its tail between its legs, one cannot help but marvel at the gross waste of money and resources throughout this whole debacle.

Wouldn’t it have been more prudent to establish whether this company, backed by Barclays Bank, was in a financial situation to proceed with its plans before allowing it to move its raft of equipment onto the well site, and then off again, to the distress of locals and protectors alike?

This is to say nothing of the massive expense to the tax-paying public for the disproportionate policing of 
this operation.

It would have hardly been difficult to discover that Third Energy are massively in debt to the tune of a reported £50m, a debt level of over 100 times their annual revenue, with just a few thousand pounds in the bank.

Letters were sent out to locals offering them compensation for living near a well site – obviously that will have now disappeared like the proverbial melting snow.

I am thrilled to see Third Energy leave Kirby Misperton and would like to hope that before this polluting industry is imposed on another village community, someone actually has the common sense to check the stability of the company involved before trusting its so-called “gold-standard regulations”.

From: Wendy Cross, Waterside Road, Beverley.

DURING the past week the firm Third Energy, which has been developing an existing well at Kirby Misperton for over a year, has been packing up and dispatching its fracking equipment in the wake of ponderings from the Government as to the ins and outs of its finances.

I believe your newspaper has been commendable in giving a voice to those who have become aware of the dangers attending the fracking industry.

Commendable also has been the dedication of all who have kept vigils at the site gate, slept on a sea of mud and endured other appalling discomforts in order to keep us safe.

From: Hugh Rogers, Ashby.

ANY chance that the anti-fracking brigade will change their tune following the news that the UK nearly ran out of gas during the recent cold snap (Bernard Ingham, The Yorkshire Post, March 7)? No, I thought not. I mean, what else is there for people with too much time on their hands to do, except make a nuisance of themselves?