The UK Government has announced a new consultation on banning fracking in protected wildlife sites.
The move comes from DECC (Department of Energy and Climate Change) and would include sites of specific scientific interest.
Proposals for an outright ban were first introduced earlier this year by MPs concerned about the government’s drive for shale gas exploration.
Only a few weeks later the policy has been watered down to bar fracking activity on the surface which would allow companies to station their rigs just outside protected areas then drill out horizontally in order to frack beneath them.
Environmental groups have been critical of the issue but following the news Greenpeace said the new consultation was designed to “mollify concerned backbenchers” but lacked “substance to actually protect the countryside from fracking pollution”.
Greenpeace campaigner, Hannah Martin said: “This announcement might have banned drilling rigs from littering the landscape, but the government isn’t banning fracking pollution spilling over into our most fragile and treasured countryside.
“Some of England’s special scenery and nature reserves could still be ringed by fracking rigs bringing light, air, water and noise pollution to areas that should be completely protected. This seems like a statement designed simply to mollify concerned backbenchers but lacking the substance to actually protect the countryside from fracking pollution.”
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