Farming Online: Water companies warn against shale gas fracking

Water companies have issued stark warnings over the government's plans to allow shale gas exploration across half of the UK mainland.
 
On Monday, the government opened the fourteenth licensing round, which will enable gas and oil companies to bid for exploration rights and drill for shale gas across vast areas of the British mainland.  
 
Although the Department for Energy and Climate Change has said that fracking will not go ahead in sensitive areas such as national parks and SSSIs, unless there are "exceptional circumstances [when this is] in the public interest," environment groups have said that this caveat and a number of "giant loopholes" mean that in reality these areas will be afforded little protection.
 
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