A CONTROVERSIAL method of drilling for gas blamed for causing an earthquake south of the Border is to be used in Scotland for the first time.
An energy firm has been given the green light to begin using hydraulic fracturing – or “fracking” – to dig for fossil fuels in Dumfries and Galloway.
The process, which involves tapping trapped gas by blasting fissures in rock beds with water, sand and chemicals, was said to have been behind earth tremors close to Blackpool when it was used off the Lancashire coast in April and May.
Now Greenpark Energy, based in Berwick-upon-Tweed, has been granted a licence by the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency to begin fracking near the mining village of Canonbie as the firm seeks to unlock gas in 400,000 tonnes of coal. It is reported to have already carried out testing by drilling boreholes.
As well as causing tremors, fracking has also been linked to water contamination, with protest groups claiming it has caused such high levels of methane in water it can be set alight as it comes out of taps.
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