Home owners in the east of England may find fracking taking place underneath their property unless government plans are opposed.
That's the warning today from Rupert Read, Green Party lead candidate in the east of England at the Euro-elections in May.
Ministers and fracking firms are pushing for a change in trespass law to allow hydraulic fracturing to take place under people's homes without their permission.
The Department for Energy and Climate Change, headed by Liberal Democrat MP Ed Davey, is reviewing whether current trespass laws are fit for purpose. In a Radio Four interview on the proposed law change the Chief Executive of Celtique Energy, Geoff Davis, hinted at his support for making unwanted drilling easier.[1]
Mr Davis' intervention came after a group of landowners in Sussex wrote to Ed Davey MP saying they refuse to give permission for Celtique to drill beneath their land. [2]
Responding on behalf of the Green Party here in Eastern England, Dr Read said:
"Fracking potentially threatens homes in Peterborough, in north Norfolk, and on the Cambs-Herts-Essex border. Only the Green Party opposes it. And it's easy to see why we oppose it, when you hear of this latest outrageous threat. We would never allow nuclear power stations to be built in our gardens, or wind-turbines to be allowed literally to overhang our houses. So why should fracking be allowed underneath our homes?"
Commenting on the response by Minsters and Celtique Energy, Keith Taylor, the Green Party MEP for the neighbouring Region of South East England, said:
"The Government and their friends in these fracking firms are looking increasingly desperate in their attempts to impose fracking on a population that's saying no.
"It is clear that people across the UK have legitimate concerns about fracking. It is, therefore, shocking that the Government is responding by proposing a law change to drill underneath people's homes without their permission.
"Though the British Government has a love affair with fracking, ministers are failing to persuade the UK public of the benefits of shale gas drilling.
"We know that fracking is unlikely to bring down bills and presents a threat to our environment and there is no doubt that local communities will continue to organise against fracking, with or without this change in law."
NOTES FOR EDITORS:
[1] Today programme 3.2.14, Radio 4, around 7.30am
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