Andy
Buchanan/AFP/Getty Images
The Week
Aug 18, 2017
Professor John Underhill says it is
'55 million years too late' to exploit 'hyped' oil reserves
The UK is unsuitable for fracking and its shale gas
reserves have been "hyped", one of the country's leading geologists has
claimed.
Professor John Underhill, chief scientist at
Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, believes the UK is "55 million years
too late" for the gas extraction technique to work.
The government says that drilling into the earth and
injecting liquid into rock at high pressure, forcing apart fractures and
releasing gas, is a potentially lucrative source of energy. Opponents, however,
claim fracking is harmful to the environment and affects the health of those
who live nearby.
The amount of shale gas available in the UK is
acknowledged to be "a great unknown", says the BBC.
Speaking to the broadcaster, Prof Underhill said his
research on the influence of tectonic plates on the UK suggested the shale
formations have been lifted, warped and cooled by tectonic action. He said the
government would be "wise" to formulate a Plan B for the UK's future
gas supply.
Mary Church, head of campaigns for Friends of the
Earth Scotland, told The Independent that the report "adds weight to the
already overwhelming case against fracking in Scotland, or indeed anywhere in
these isles".
"Fracking presents a whole host of risks to
people's health and our local environment," Church said, "while in
the context of irreversible climate change, going after a new source of fossil
fuels is quite literally the last thing we should be doing."
The government's own opinion tracker shows public
support for fracking has fallen to 16 per cent, with opposition at 33 per cent.
However, it also reported a lack of knowledge of the technology, with 48 per
cent of people neither supporting nor opposing it.
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