The controversial practice of fracking for shale gas deposits continues to stir up strong emotions.
Cuadrilla’s test site at Balcombe in Sussex has been besieged for weeks now despite the fact no fracking activity has yet taken place there or even been proposed.
The company is involved in drilling a conventional oil well at the site but has been forced to scale back operations in the face of what it claims were threats of direct action against the operations.
Regardless of the situation at Balcombe, it is clear that Cuadrilla harbours a desire to frack for shale in future.
Given the huge success of the practice in the US, where it has led to a significant drop in the cost of gas for domestic households, where Cuadrilla leads, others are sure to follow.
Estimates of the size of the UK’s shale deposits differ wildly but, whoever you believe, it is clear there is a commercial opportunity for shale in the UK.
Given the country’s need for new energy sources, it is inevitable that fracking which involves forcing water, chemicals and sand into underground rock deposits to break them apart and release trapped shale gas will become a major industry.
The demonstrators at Balcombe have a democratic right to make their views known and protest in whatever way they see fit within the law.
But I fear their protests will ultimately fall on deaf ears given the Government’s undisguised backing for hydraulic fracturing fracking’s Sunday name and the economic imperative at play.
The best the demonstrators can really hope for is that shale gas is properly regulated from an environmental viewpoint and operations are completed to the highest of standards.
That is something which will always have my full backing and will remain a key concern when the developers turn their full attentions to the shale deposits in Scotland, as they inevitably will.
Fife is believed to have significant shale deposits while there are further reserves in the Central Belt.
Fracking may not be the answer to the UK’s energy problems in the same manner it has been across the pond.
If progressed properly it has the potential to create hundreds if not thousands of jobs in Britain, create wealth and be an important addition to the energy mix.
The oil and gas industry was the subject of green protests in the past and is still monitored with an eagle eye by environmental groups to this day, but no one seriously calls for an end to operations in the North Sea.
Fracking is an industry in its infancy in the UK and it needs to be given the opportunity to grow up and mature.
Hopefully in time it will be able to convince the doubters and demonstrators that fracking can be a safe and reliable way of releasing a valuable natural resource.