Fracking: MP and Cuadrilla boss row over possible Lancashire return

Wells at the Preston New Road site will not be sealed as previously instructed while a review takes place

A row has broken out over whether fracking could return to Lancashire after the government announced a review into its impact.

The review will assess any changes to the science around the practice, which was halted in the UK in 2019 amid opposition from campaigners.

Mark Menzies, the Conservative MP for Fylde, said fracking at the Preston New Road site was "a danger to the public."

Cuadrilla boss Francis Egan said the wells there were safe and viable.

The energy firm has been told it will not have to seal up the UK's only two shale gas wells at the end of June, as previously instructed by regulators.

This means the Preston New Road wells will not have to be capped with concrete and Cuadrilla has another year to evaluate options.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been under pressure from Conservative MPs to end a 2019 moratorium on fracking and the review comes ahead of the publication of the government's delayed energy strategy.

'Absolute nonsense'

Mr Menzies said the question for the energy company was not if there was gas to be extracted, but where it it could be brought out safely.

"Can you do within the regulations that you yourself signed up to?" he said.

"The answer is no, so therefore fracking cannot be done."

Operations at the Preston New Road site had been subject to limits which meant if earthquakes above 0.5 magnitude were detected, all drilling had to cease for 18 hours.

Mr Menzies said such tremors were "outside the tolerance zone" and the people of Lancashire should "not have to put up with... something which is clearly, by [Cuadrilla's] own definition, unsafe."

There were huge protests at Preston New Road before fracking was halted in 2019

Barbara Richardson, of campaign group Frack Free Lancashire, said she believed the government was trying to "appease a fairly small minority of MPs who think that fracking can actually alleviate the energy prices".

"It's absolute nonsense. It can't and it won't," she said.

She said fracking "cannot be done safely, it cannot be done sustainably and it certainly isn't supported by the residents".

Mr Menzies said the Conservative backbenchers in favour of drilling were an ill-informed and "unrepresentative rump" who "don't understand the realities" and do not "actually have fracking anywhere near them".

Mr Egan said he was not aware of Mr Menzies' "technical qualifications... but I can assure you [the wells] are viable".

He said the earth tremors were "imperceptible" and if the 0.5 limit was adhered to in outer areas, "you'd have to shut down most of the industry in the country".

"The 0.5, described by Liverpool University as the equivalent of sitting on an office chair, was accepted by us on the basis that it would be reviewed over time and amended," he said.

"It was never reviewed and now is the time to review it."

What is fracking?

• Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a technique to extract gas and oil from the earth

• Liquid is pumped underground at high pressure to fracture shale rock and release gas or oil within

He said the "science clearly demonstrates already that it's safe... so I don't think it needs a long review" and the process was necessary due to the recent energy crisis.

"We were told there was plentiful cheap gas available in the world," he said.

"We argued that it was... not safe to be relying on foreign imports and we were told we were silly.

"That hasn't proved to be the case. So decisions need to be made."

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has given the British Geological Survey three months to assess any changes to the science around the controversial practice.

Announcing the review on Tuesday, he said that "in light of Putin's criminal invasion of Ukraine, it is absolutely right that we explore all possible domestic energy sources".

The review has been criticised by opposition parties, with Labour's Ed Miliband saying it was "a sign once again that this government cannot be trusted to deliver on the green energy sprint we need for energy security" and the SNP's Deidre Brock declaring it "completely unacceptable".