Fears have been raised over the possible use of fracking in east Kent after county councillors approved plans to drill an exploratory borehole to test for shale gas.
While planning applicants Coastal Oil and Gas Ltd insist it will be a simple test of coal and shale, activists have warned it could be the first step towards the use of the controversial ‘fracking’ extraction method, which is believed to have caused two minor earthquakes in Blackpool earlier this year.
The technique is a process of drilling for natural shale gas involving blasting water and rock-dissolving fluids underground at high pressure to break apart rocks and release gas.
Protestors claim it causes contamination of water supplies, flammable tap water, greenhouse gas emissions, and can lead to earthquakes.
This week Kent County Council’s planning committee approved an application allowing Welsh firm Coastal Oil and Gas Ltd to use land by the A257 and A256, north of Woodnesborough, to drill an exploratory borehole to test for gas.
Chair of Kent Green Party Stuart Jeffery called the decision “sheer stupidity”.
kent.news.uk.org
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