Liz Truss has said the ban on fracking in England will be lifted, despite having been warned it is not yet known how likely it is to cause earthquakes.
Announcing her plan to freeze energy bills on Thursday, the new prime minister said it was “vital” to increase the UK’s domestic energy supply.
“We will end the moratorium on extracting our huge reserves of shale, which could get gas flowing as soon as six months,” she told the Commons.
But crucially, Truss added fracking would only be allowed “where there is local support for it”
Hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, is a process in which water and chemicals are injected into rocks at high pressure to extract gas.
In 2019, the government placed a moratorium on fracking after the Oil and Gas Authority found: “It is not currently possible to accurately predict the probability or magnitude of earthquakes linked to fracking operations.”
The government also commissioned a report from the British Geological Survey earlier this year, which is due to be published today.
That report, which has been seen by ministers, suggested “more drilling is required to establish data on the shale resources and seismic impacts” of fracking.
Just six months ago, Kwasi Kwarteng, the new chancellor, said fracking “would come at a high cost for communities and our precious countryside”.
Writing in the Mail on Sunday in March, Kwarteng, the then business secretary, said: “Those calling for [fracking’s] return misunderstand the situation we find ourselves in.
“If we lifted the fracking moratorium, it would take up to a decade to extract sufficient volumes - and it would come at a high cost for communities and our precious countryside.
“No amount of shale gas from hundreds of wells dotted across rural England would be enough to lower the European price any time soon.
“And with the best will in the world, private companies are not going to sell the shale gas they produce to UK consumers below the market price. They are not charities, after all.”