The government in the UK has decided that it will now allow fracking under national parks as long as the well starts outside of the park's grounds. Originally, these grounds had been protected from fracking due to their beauty and their protected waters. This was decided to be too much land to keep from being explored for gas. The government's main concern was preventing any damage to the shale industry. The government also reversed the law that stated that residents would be informed of fracking in their area of residence. All of this is done with claims that the fracking industry is good for the economy because it will provide jobs and income for the nation as well as cut some of the reliance that the UK has on other nations for these resources.
Obviously, there are several concerns with the changes being made here. The first concern is that the government is in the pocket of an industry that has no concern for the general public. When corporations become more important to the government than the citizens, that opens up many other doors for problems. The second concern is the lack of consideration for the environment. Fracking is very problematic in terms of the fight against global climate change. The process of fracking is using high pressure to break up rocks beneath the ground in order to release natural gas. However, this has generally been reported to contaminate ground water, which is used for drinking. Not to mention the fact that the burning of natural gas releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and contributes to global climate change.
2/13/14 10:06pm
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/feb/12/fracking-will-be-allowed-under-national-parks
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