What is the impact of fracking on the environment in Lancashire?
Fracking has its advantages such as helping the economy and reducing gas prices at some stage in the future, however, to reach this advantage for the economy, many factors can arise due to this, affecting the community and the environment. Such factors include;
Noise associated with the operations
A company called Cuadrilla requested planning applications to expand in their sites in Lancashire (www.lancashire.gov.uk). In these sites, drilling will occur to explore shale gas which would cause noise. Many local residents will not favour this as the disruption will directly affect them, whereas the advantage of fracking may not necessarily benefit them, which may cause protests or reasons for the community to be annoyed and unhappy.
Risk of contamination of the land
Whilst fracking, it can be evident (Fracking reference) that chemicals may escape and potentially destroy natural land. For example, farmers who use this land to operate a business may lose financially due to this, and can potentially destroy their business. Farmers, among other people may not wish for this to happen and this may cause a disagreement with the Government.
Traffic
A site may be in place for a long duration of time, which can cause consistent disruption to commuters in the city of Lancashire. Commuters may have to find alternative routes, which may increase traffic incidents and other related problems for residents and transport.
Flood risk
There have been many cases in the UK of flooding previously due to the high rain levels. If it occurs in the future, it may damage gas and oil wells releasing toxic chemicals to the environment, affecting health and possibly contamination. Clean-up efforts will become complicated, giving people reasons to stop operations such as fracking from happening.
There are many other issues which may occur due to fracking, and to avoid these issues from happening, organisations regulated...