In early 2014, David Cameron boldly announced that the
government supported the exploitation of onshore oil and gas
through hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and that the UK should
fully embrace exploration, stating: "I want us to get on
board this change that is doing so much good and bringing so much
benefit to North America"1. Since then, the
government has announced further tentative steps towards its
ambition to realise shale gas exploration such that it is now one
of the governments 'Top 40' priority UK infrastructure
projects under the most recent iteration of the National
Infrastructure Plan (NIP).
Latest studies have indicated that supplies of natural gas which
are economically recoverable from shale in the United States can
accommodate the country's domestic demand for natural gas (at
current levels of consumption) for more than a hundred years. This
is an economic and strategic boon home and abroad, and at least in
the near term, a potentially important
