The Guardian: Fracking office gets £2.5m before single unit of shale gas produced
The government has committed nearly £2.5m of public money to an office to encourage fracking before a single home has been powered by shale gas.
On Monday, the government began a new round of licensing for onshore oil and gas, which opens up around half of the UK to potential fracking, including national parks in "exceptional circumstances."
David Cameron has said the UK is going "all out for shale", with government offering tax breaks to fracking companies and promising local authorities will be able to keep 100% of the business rates from fracking operations rather than 50% as before.