By Laura Beans
According to Friends of the Earth (FOE), the UK government plans to end people’s right to be notified about plans to drill for gas and oil beneath their homes and on their land, amongst other changes in the law for onshore oil and gas planning applications.
“It’s little wonder communities don’t trust the Government over fracking when their rights are so clearly being bulldozed aside to smooth the path for the big fracking firms,” said Andrew Pendleton, head of campaigns for FOE.
Anti-fracking protestors targeted Cuadrilla at locations across the UK, Aug. 19. Photo credit: No Dash for Gas
The news of the changing law is coupled with the announcement today that Cuadrilla has withdrawn its application to extend the time in which it can drill for oil in Balcombe, according to Greenpeace. It has instead decided to “reassess our programme and, in turn, the terms of our current planning application.”
“They [Cuadrilla] only recently submitted an application to extend the drilling window, now they’ve already withdrawn it and admitted they’re reassessing the programme,” said Leila Deen, energy campaigner for Greenpeace.
For the rest of this story please click the link to EcoWatch: http://ecowatch.com/2013/fracking-puts-on-hold-in-balcombe/