No fracking in home counties, village residents tell oil company (in England)
After earthquakes in Lancashire and tales of poisoned water and flaming taps in the US, "fracking" for gas or oil in the English home counties was never likely to be easy. And so it proved when oil executives faced the fury of a village hall full of West Sussex residents in a clash over controversial technology that energy companies believe could open up major reserves of energy from underground rocks.
"What you are about to do will make our water beyond toxic!" Ella Reeves shouted at Mark Miller, the Pennsylvania oil man who had come to Balcombe to explain plans to search for hydrocarbons 800 metres under the Sussex weald. "It's about money for you, but for me it is about life."
Reeves was one of around 200 residents squeezed into the village's arts and crafts village hall to hear Miller, the chief executive of Cuadrilla, a multinational oil and gas company, explain why he might want to use hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" less than a mile from the village, which lies on the London to Brighton commuter line, just five miles from Gatwick airport.
The technique involves forcing thousands of gallons of chemical solution under high pressure into rocks to release oil or gas, but opponents say it pollutes groundwater, adds to greenhouse gas pollution and destroys local ecosystems.
full: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jan/12/fracking-oil-west-sussex-caudrilla
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