WP: Britain’s debate over fracking ignites popular resistance

This might seem a bizarre place for a battle over energy policy in Britain.

A quaint village with a single pub, a well-attended tearoom and a population of about 2,000, Balcombe has become the focal point of a heated debate over hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Prime Minister David Cameron hopes fracking will revolutionize the country’s energy industry.

“Frack off” read hand-painted signs held aloft along a leafy road leading to Lower Stumble, a wooded field a half-mile south of where the drilling company Cuadrilla Resources recently erected a rig.  MORE