Fracking Under Pressure In U.K.

Petrochemicals maker Ineos has slammed a report by the U.K. Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee concluding that the country should place a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing on environmental grounds. Fracking is a technique to extract natural gas trapped in shale formations. The report, which is not legally binding, found that fracking is “incompatible” with the country’s climate change targets and that it presents “significant localized environmental risks to public health.” Ineos rejected the report. “It is partial, partisan, and has deliberately focused on the potential risks rather than the benefits of fracking,” Ineos says.