RTCC: Fracking hell: What’s the future for shale gas in the UK?

A year ago today, activists converged on the West Sussex village of Balcombe for a quintessentially British protest.

Tea and flapjack circulated as locals, environmentalists and minor celebrities politely refused access to lorries carrying drills destined for a shale exploration rig.

They were objecting to efforts by oil and gas company Cuadrilla to exploit previously untapped reserves in shale rocks.

Activists feared that would involve the controversial technique of hydraulic fracturing or “fracking”: pumping water and chemicals into the well at high pressure to break up the rock and release its valuable hydrocarbons.
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