The case against fracking
Liz Truss has pledged to lift the ban on fracking. At a time when every scientific authority on earth is calling for an end to all new fossil fuel exploration, Truss is using the energy crisis to back an unpopular technology that will nudge us ever closer to the more apocalyptic climate scenarios. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a way of extracting hard-to-reach fossil fuels from impermeable shale rock. High-pressure injection of fracking fluid (water plus chemicals plus sand) fractures the bedrock and allows fossilised methane gas and oil to rise to the surface. The process poisons soil...