New prime minister Liz Truss is facing a backlash after lifting the UK's ban on fracking in a bid to improve domestic gas supply.
The announcement came with the launch of Ms Truss' Energy Price Guarantee, freezing gas and electric prices at their current rates in a bid to ease the current cost of living crisis.
The UK had suspended all fracking since 2019 following a series of earth tremors, but business and energy secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg claims fracking is in the national interest and will make the country richer. He suggested current limits on acceptable levels of seismic activity are too restrictive and said the government is determined to “realise any potential sources of domestic gas”.
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Part of the reason gas prices have shot up this year is that the UK can no longer rely on Russia to supply gas and oil.
After the invasion of Ukraine, the UK and other NATO nations introduced trading sanctions against Russia, which included halting the trade of gas and oil. Fracking would allow the UK to produce its own gas and oil and not rely on trading with other nations, but what is it, and why is it so controversial?
What is fracking?
Hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking, is a way of extracting gas and oil from shale rock.
Shale rocks are deep under the surface of the Earth, and so the process involves drilling deep underground and pumping a mixture of water, sand, and chemicals down to fracture the rock and release the gas inside.
The practice was first banned in 2019 after campaigns by green groups and locals against any fracking wells that were being set up. The only company given consent to begin fracking was Cuadrilla, which drilled two wells at a site in Lancashire but faced repeated protests on climate and safety grounds, from local people and campaigners.
Why is fracking controversial?
Campaigners say fracking is distracting energy firms and governments from investing in renewable sources of energy, and encourages continued reliance on fossil fuels. Opponents to the practice have warned that fracking can cause earthquakes, water contamination, noise and traffic pollution.
However, supporters say it dramatically increases the production of oil and natural gas, helping to lower energy prices, strengthen energy security and even lower air pollution and carbon dioxide emissions by reducing the reliance coal in electricity generation.
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham described the move by Liz Truss as a 'backwards step'. He said: "Fracking won't deliver energy any time soon. You're talking years before that gas starts to flow and when it does we're supposed be going towards net zero, so it's taking us in a backwards direction.
"The quickest way and the cheapest way of getting new energy sources is on-shore wind and the question you need to ask is why is the Conservative Party putting restrictions on on-shore wind, but not on fracking. Local communities can stop on-shore wind farms because the NIMBYs down south demanded that it should be their right."
Where are the potential sites?
There are number of viable sites in the UK, but the PM told MPs that fracking would only go ahead in areas where there was local support for it. Before the ban in 2019, the only fracking site to break ground was in Little Plumpton, near Blackpool, which faced repeated protests.
There are other previously identified shale energy reserves in Scotland, in areas around Glasgow and Edinburgh. Reserves have also been identified around Leeds and York in south Yorkshire, and in the South of England near Brighton and Southampton. However, not all identified reserves have been licenced for fracking.
Other EU nations like Germany, France, and Spain have banned the practice, but countries like the USA, Brazil, and Argentina use fracking.
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