UK Government Removes Question About Fracking From Public Attitude Tracker - Reports

The UK government has removed the question about fracking from the public attitudes tracker run by the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) just a few weeks before the launch of the first fracking works in the country in seven years, local media reported Thursday.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th August, 2018) The UK government has removed the question about fracking from the public attitudes tracker run by the Department of business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) just a few weeks before the launch of the first fracking works in the country in seven years, local media reported Thursday.

In late July, the UK shale gas firm Cuadrilla was granted the final permission to conduct fracking at its Preston New Road site. The company is expected to begin its operations in late August or early September.

According to The Guardian newspaper, the BEIS officials said that the question about fracking will be asked again in spring 2019 and once per year afterwards.

The latest BEIS poll showed that 32 percent of the UK citizens opposed fracking works, and only 18 percent of respondents did not object to the controversial technique, the news outlet added.

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a technique for extracting shale gas and oil by injecting pressurized toxic liquid into the ground. Opponents of hydraulic fracturing argue the process poses numerous health, safety and environmental risks, including the potential for fracking fluids and waste to leak into water as well as the large volume of water used.