UK Court Rejects Request To Halt Gas Firm Cuadrilla Fracking In Lancashire - Reports

Sumaira FH Published October 12, 2018 | 09:40 PM

Environmental campaigner Robert Dennett has lost a High Court battle to temporarily block UK shale gas company Cuadrilla from fracking the United Kingdom's first horizontal shale gas well in Lancashire.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 12th October, 2018) Environmental campaigner Robert Dennett has lost a High Court battle to temporarily block UK shale gas company Cuadrilla from fracking the United Kingdom's first horizontal shale gas well in Lancashire.

Cuadrilla said on October 5 that it was planning to start fracking at the first of its two wells at its Lancashire site next week.

Dennett tried to get an injunction, arguing that Lancashire county council's emergency response planning related to shale gas fracking is inadequate. However, High Court judge Mr Justice Supperstone dismissed his request, according to Financial Times.

Lancashire county council said in court fillings that its emergency response planning was enough for a worst-case scenario such as an explosion or fire resulting from a release of natural gas, according to the newspaper.

After the court dismissed Dennet's request, Cuadrilla confirmed its plans to proceed with the operations at the Lancashire site, scheduled to start on Saturday.

"We are delighted to be starting our hydraulic fracturing operations as planned. We are now commencing the final operational phase to evaluate the commercial potential for a new source of indigenous natural gas in Lancashire. If commercially recoverable this will displace costly imported gas, with lower emissions, significant economic benefit and better security of energy supply for the UK," Caudrilla CEO Francis Egan said, as cited by the company.

Cuadrilla said in mid-September that the government had approved plans for the second well at its site in northwestern England.

Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is a controversial issue in the United Kingdom as activists are concerned over seismic activity risks as well as potential pollution.