Proved conclusively to cause tremors, fracking is one of those government-inspired idiocies that real people find incredible. To make a profit, industry is ever more willing to stick a hole into the earth and extract anything that will suffice. In these cases of shale extraction, the US and Canada have given in for years to federal pressure.
In exchange for an environmental mess, companies can prolong the use of fossil fuel for a bit longer. David Cameron's government are even offering big tax incentives as if this really were "the future" of any energy prospectus. While nuclear lingers and coal is brought from the US, the UK's renewable credentials seem strictly limited to Scotland's 100% claim for 2020.
This is certainly a time for looking over your shoulder, especially if you live in shale rich Lancashire or now, it seems, West Sussex! The balmy sea-sides of the English south coast are unused to such treatment by their overlords in the Conservative Party. Cuadrilla, experienced from their northern exploits, are certain they will discover huge reserves of shale under the Tory Home Counties. That political party could then find they have opened a fracture they will never repair.
The London Road in Balcombe-on-Sea may be Frackly Bottom for current politicians. The Chancellor, George Osborne, is offering the millionaire community £100,000 to compensate for disruption. In return he gets a total 10 years supply of shale gas, if the dense British population are willing to move a little.
We suggest the party faithful, if there are any left, will get around to more than simple arm-twisting if the Cuadrilla campaign is successful. While American communities in many regions have suffered from these depredations, and complained unendingly, the political will could well disappear in the UK, as quickly as those 10 years of shale gas.