Reuters: COLUMN-Making fracking politically acceptable: John Kemp

Fracturing oil and gas from tight rock formations promises secure energy supplies for generations, but only if industry and regulators can convince voters it can be done safely without poisoning water supplies or adding to global warming.

Like other forms of petroleum production, and innovative technologies such as liquefied natural gas and nuclear, shale gas and oil need a political "licence to operate". The still-born nuclear industry shows what happens when industry and regulators fail to win the public argument over safety and environmental impacts.

Hydraulic fracturing has already unleashed a storm of protest threatening the technology's viability. Critics point to the enormous amount of water used, stressing supplies for households and farming, the potential for cancer-causing chemicals to seep into freshwater aquifers, risk of earthquakes, and the enormous number of truck movements disrupting local communities, not to mention the impact on global warming.  MORE