High Court rules in favour of fracking company over North Yorkshire site

THE High Court has today ruled against anti-fracking groups in their battle to prevent fracking in North Yorkshire.

Friends of the Earth and Frack-Free Ryedale said that North Yorkshire County Council had acted unlawfully when it granted permission for Third Energy to frack at Kirby Misperton.

The groups said that the council had not considered the effects of burning gas when agreeing to allow the controversial form of mining for shale gas.

Friends of the Earth was ordered to pay £10,000 in costs and has said it will not appeal the decision.

The delay caused by the judicial review means that Third Energy cannot start until 2017.

Fracking involves digging multiple wells, injecting liquid at high pressure into boreholes within the wells, forcing open fissures to extract oil or gas.

It has been restricted or banned in some countries due to the potential for seismic activity and polluting effects.

The process down each well takes approximately six weeks.

Recently, a second site in the UK was given the go-ahead for fracking in Preston new Road, Fylde, Lancashire.

Donna Hume, a campaigner at Friends of the Earth, told The Guardian: “The judge found that North Yorkshire councillors had assessed the impacts of climate change. But we know that climate change was barely mentioned at that crucial council meeting where the decision to allow fracking was taken, and more damningly, that councillors didn’t have the information about the total carbon emissions produced from the fracking project.”

Inevitably, Third Energy welcomed the news, saying: “We are confident that we will prove to the local community that their elected representatives were right to grant this permission.”

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