Anti-fracking protesters throughout Fife are being urged to join forces to take on the energy giants.
Glenrothes campaigner Peter Scobie, a member of Frack Off Fife, has told The Courier that a second public meeting in as many months will be held in the town tonight in an effort to create a local alliance against the controversial practise.
Earlier this week, an influential group of Westminster MP’s called for a halt in all fracking-related activity, claiming that it could derail efforts to tackle climate change.
However, as uncertainty remains over how the industry may grow in the coming years, Mr Scobie said that it was important for campaigners to get together now.
“What we are trying to do is unite these little groups and bring them together,” he said.
“Little pockets are not a big threat to these companies.
“We want to get these smaller groups into Frack Off Fife, as the fewer number of groups we have, the better.
“There is a lot of news about fracking in the media at the minute.
“Politicians say they’re going to stop it one day and a few days later they say it’s going ahead.
“It’s confusing people.”
Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is the extraction of gas and oil from shale rock deep underground using a high-pressure water mixture.
The term is also used to include other unconventional gas extraction methods, including underground coal gasification (UCG) and coal bed methane (CBM) extraction.
Last month, members of Frack Off Fife gathered at the CISWO in Glenrothes to hear addresses from Friends of the Earth director Dr Richard Dixon.
He called on people across central Scotland to unite against any proposals that he believes could turn the region into a gas field.
A swathe of land across the area, including Fife, has been identified by UK ministers for shale gas exploration and there are also plans to extract gas from under the Firth of Forth.
While supporters claimed that fracking is a safe way of meeting the country’s energy needs, opponents have voiced concerns over pollution and have stated that drilling blights the local landscape.
“The last meeting was arranged at such short notice by a group from Lothian,” added Mr Scobie.
“We only had two days notice and only some community councils and a group in Levenmouth had been keeping an eye on things and became aware of it.
“This gave the local councillors very little notice to attend and I spoke to two of them who said they couldn’t make it because they already had other meetings on.
“That’s why myself and Davie Nelson from the CISWO wanted to hold another meeting.”
The meeting is in the CISWO, North Street, Glenrothes, at 7.30pm on Wednesday night.