‘Fracking’ fear in towns and villages throughout Tyrone, Northern Ireland

‘Fracking’ fear in towns and villages throughout Tyrone April 3, 2013, Tyrone Courier
There are fears the highly controversial gas extraction process, fracking, could soon be taking place in Tyrone! Large swathes of the county and indeed the country could be the subject of hydraulic fracturing, with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment currently advertising a prospecting licence application to “search for, bore for, and get petroleum” in parts of five of the six counties of Northern Ireland. However, DETI have stated the company, CHx, which has brought forward the application “has not stated that it intends to use hydraulic fracturing techniques and nor has it identified shale gas as its primary target.” DETI have also claimed that “hydraulic fracturing is not relevant to this licence application”. The Department has, though, declined to disclose to the Courier any details of the proposed exploration programme, leaving question marks over what exactly the nature of the planned work would be. … And anti-fracking campaigner, Majella McCarron, originally from Fermanagh, is urging people from the Tyrone area to state their objection to the proposals. “With the previous applications people didn’t really have a chance to oppose it because they didn’t understand what exactly it was,” she says. And Majella believes the timing of the advertisement, just before the Easter holidays, will also detract from the number of people who might object to the scheme, while saying now is the time to object if you are opposed to the plan. “The licence, once it’s awarded, can’t be revoked unless the company breaches the terms of it and the only other way is if DETI could cancel it, but they would have to pay major compensation in that case,” she claims. However, DETI have responded to an enquiry from the Courier and, in a statement, they said: “It is important to emphasise that the Department does not issue any licences for fracking. [Emphasis added]