A West Sussex village is resisting American attempts to drill for precious gas and oil.
You could call it a culture clash – or possibly a PR car crash. This week an American oilman came to town, or rather to a pretty Sussex village, and ran straight into the formidable combination of emotion and expertise generated by Home Counties Englishmen (and women) in defence of their castles.
Mark Miller, the Pennsylvania-born chief executive of Cuadrilla, was at times shouted down and at others submitted to pointed interrogation at a public meeting on Wednesday. He was trying to explain why his company was going to prospect for shale gas and oil just a mile from Balcombe, halfway between London and Brighton and slap in the middle of the stockbroker and solicitor belt. It was his company’s first serious venture into the prosperous and protest-practised South East, and by the end of the meeting he could be forgiven for hoping it would be the last.
Telegraph.co.uk
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