FRACKING is one of those things that, in the short term, probably seems a good idea, especially if you stand to make a lot of money.

Otherwise its destructive and toxic nature is all too obvious.

Oil-bearing strata, when subject to indiscriminate interference, will inevitably release oil and other hydrocarbons into the local ground-water and hence into streams and rivers.

The land itself will probably be poisoned and this damage will be permanent and irreversible.

There is also the probability of earthquakes. Minor tremors that happen all the time and pass largely unnoticed will be magnified at least ten-fold when they happen below grossly disturbed strata.

Fracking may seem feasible in the badlands of North America, because there’s no one living there – but even there I suspect malign environmental consequences long term.

Fracking is so anti-social and ecologically pernicious that it’s hard to see how it could ever be allowed at all.

Tony Kelly, Crook