Fracking

Poorly regulated and dangerous acid stimulation could be used to increase fossil fuel production. A new report from Friends of the Earth calls for a ban. MARIANNE BROOKER reports

Mayor of Malton Paul Andrews has started private legal proceedings against the government by applying for a Judicial Review to challenge a recent Written Ministerial Statement on fracking. MARIANNE BROOKER reports

Campaigners have slammed a decision to allow test drilling despite opposition from the local council over night time noise, the impact on local roads and the green belt. CATHERINE EARLY reports

Experts have said that fracking style oil exploration could be linked to a series of earthquakes that have rocked rural Surrey since April. ROD HARBINSON investigates

The UK government’s decision this week to allow fracking undermines its commitments to tackle climate change and reduce fossil fuel use. It came just days before the government’s own data showed renewable electricity hit a record high last year. JOSEPH DUTTON reports

This year we have experienced the longest heat wave since 1976 - the North West of England is heading for a hosepipe ban in a couple of weeks. We also discovered recently that Cuadrilla has applied for the final consent from BEIS to start fracking, writes JOHN HOBSON

Campaigners assembled outside the High Court to fight an injunction sought by an oil and gas company to impose 'draconian' restrictions on protesters.

Dame Emma Thompson sends message of support to Reclaim the Power and protesters from the local community as they mark 54 hours of protest on the anniversary of the Lancashire County Council decision to turn down an application.

Frack Free Greater Manchester campaigners joined human rights defenders from as far as Argentina and Colombia in May to protest outside British Petroleum (BP)’s first ever shareholder meeting in Manchester, UK. HELENA COATES - a local resident - environmental campaigner and mum of two, explains why she took part

UK Oil and Gas (UKOG) recently applied to the High Court for an injunction that anti-fracking campaigners say could severely curtail peaceful protest against their method of oil and gas exploration in the South East of England. VICKI ELCOATE is one of the defendants in the case

The brand new UK Energy policy launched late last week has explicitly resurrected fracking with planned financial and political support. Though shale gas is as controversial as it is corrosive, Greg Clark stated that its development is of ‘national importance’. MARK ROBINSON responds…

The green washing of Theresa May’s Conservative government appears to have reached its end following a week of environmentally regressive policy announcements and the collapse of UK renewable energy investment, writes JOSEPH DUTTON

The company INEOS is in court today to challenge the Scottish Government over its decision to ban fracking. But much more is at stake than the status of the UK’s newest fossil fuel industry. MIKE SMALL from DeSmog UK reports

A leaked government document has confirmed many of the claims of anti-fracking protesters. The government's expectations are shown to have been lower than industry forecasts. Questions are now being asked about how realistic the initial forecasts were. JOSEPH DUTTON investigates.

Hydraulic fracturing is still a ‘known unknown' in South Africa's ongoing energy debate. And whilst two weeks ago communities in the KwaZulu-Natal province made it clear they don't want fracking, President Jacob Zuma does. Jasper Finkeldey reports

The Conservative Environment Network launched a new report in Parliament with Sajid Javid. But the paper fails to properly address the issue of climate change and does not even mention fracking, says TIM HOLMES

We’re 55 million years too late for hydraulic fracturing to work in the UK, claims Professor John Underhill, the chief scientist at Heriot-Watt University. BRENDAN MONTAGUE reports

What do Mr Blobby, Spiderman and Dumbledore have in common? And Bez from 80s rock band Happy Mondays, local residents, farmers, students and solidarity groups from around the UK? These characters assembled for a climate carnival in Lancashire, reports LYDIA NOON

The women said they had travelled from Leeds for fear of impact on water supplies and treatment after discovering that waste water from the Cuadrilla site would be travelling to the Knostrop treatment works in Leeds.

The UK government claim that fracking is a 'clean' energy source rests on the conclusions of a single scientific paper, writes Paul Mobbs. And now that paper has been conclusively invalidated: it uses misleading figures that understate the methane emissions from fracking, and subsequent findings have left it totally discredited. Yet the paper is still being quoted to justify fracking, and the fool the public on its climate change impacts.

With the major party manifestos all published it's not just the Greens that oppose fracking, writes Mat Hope. It's also Labour and the Libdems. So who's left? The Tories of course, who are holding fast to the fracking faith, and even want to create a new special purpose regulator for the industry. Oh yes, and UKIP, which is also committed to abolishing the Climate Change Act.

The months-old protest at Preston New Road, Lancashire, is no longer just about fracking, writes Mat Hope. This dispute is now about London versus the North. It is about the government failing 'the people' from which it has become detached. It is about people sensing hopelessness and helplessness and trying to find a means to resist. And it is about holding on, steadfast, in spite of it all, knowing this is the forgotten frontline of a far greater struggle.

A new study in Pennsylvania, USA shows that fracking is strongly related to increased mortality in young babies. The effect is most pronounced in counties with many drinking water wells indicating that contamination by 'produced water' from fracking is a likely cause. Radioactive pollution with uranium, thorium and radium is a 'plausible explanation' for the excess deaths.