Herald Scotland: The gaping loophole in fracking ban: undersea coal gas
Ministers are facing mounting pressure to close what is seen as a "gaping loophole" in the temporary ban imposed on fracking last week to include highly controversial plans to exploit coal gas under the seabed near Scotland's coast.
The ban covers fracking for shale gas in the central belt and mining for coalbed methane at Falkirk and Canonbie, but it excludes the related and equally disputed technology known as underground coal gasification (UCG).
Two private companies have advanced plans to gasify the coal that underlies large parts of the Firth of Forth and the Solway Firth. Between them they have five exploratory licences for the seabed off Musselburgh, Kincardine, Largo Bay, and in the middle of the two firths, plus an application pending for an area off Kirkcaldy.
One company, Cluff Natural Resources, founded by the multi-millionaire oil tycoon, Algy Cluff, is sending a consultant to have talks with Fife Council planners this week. The other, Five Quarter, is based in Newcastle and backed by an eight per cent investment from the UK's largest private landowner, the Duke of Buccleuch.
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