The Telegraph: Cuadrilla chief Francis Egan: Scaremongering fracking opponents make me angry
By now, Cuadrilla’s exploration rig was supposed to be stationed in a Lancashire field, boring an eight-and-a-half-inch diameter hole thousands of feet into the ground – at the vanguard of the UK Government’s drive to go “all out” for shale gas.
That was what Francis Egan, the fracking firm’s chief executive, hoped as the company submitted its planning applications early last summer.
Instead, after a series of delays, the fields remain empty but for a few cows; the rig is parked in an industrial yard somewhere in the Midlands – Egan won’t say where for fear of attracting protesters – and Cuadrilla hasn’t even got permission to start work.
The great British fracking boom? It’s still nowhere to be seen.