Guardian: Fracking Will Be Allowed Under National Parks, UK Decides

Fracking companies will be allowed to drill horizontally under national parks and other protected areas if the wells start just outside their boundaries, after the government rowed back on its earlier acceptance of new environmental protections.

Ministers were forced to accept a series of new regulations from Labour on 26 January after facing defeat by concerned backbenchers, but the final amendments passed by MPs on Monday unpicked many of them. Green Party MP Caroline Lucas accusing ministers of “doing the dirty work of fracking companies for them”, but the government move was welcomed by the nascent shale gas industry.

The Labour amendments had ruled out fracking for shale gas in national parks, areas of outstanding natural beauty (AONBs), sites of special scientific interest and groundwater source protection zones (SPZs). A Guardian analysis revealed that this measure ruled out 40% of the large area of England being offered by the government for future shale gas exploration.

Read the full article HERE.