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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jan/05/cuadrilla-starts-work-on-lancashire-fracking-site-fylde
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| Cuadrilla starts work on Lancashire fracking site | Cuadrilla starts work on Lancashire fracking site |
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| Energy company Cuadrilla has started work on a controversial shale gas site in Lancashire that will later this year become the first well to be fracked in the UK since 2011. | |
| The site at Preston New Road in the Fylde is one of two that Lancashire county council rejected but whose decision was overturned last year by the communities secretary, Sajid Javid. | The site at Preston New Road in the Fylde is one of two that Lancashire county council rejected but whose decision was overturned last year by the communities secretary, Sajid Javid. |
| Cuadrilla said work was initially focused on building an access road, and over the next three months it would establish a well pad and site in what is currently a field in the Lancashire countryside. Drilling is expected to begin in the spring, with fracking happening in the third quarter of the year. | Cuadrilla said work was initially focused on building an access road, and over the next three months it would establish a well pad and site in what is currently a field in the Lancashire countryside. Drilling is expected to begin in the spring, with fracking happening in the third quarter of the year. |
| The chief executive of Cuadrilla, Francis Egan, said he hoped within a year it would become clear whether it was economically viable to extract shale gas from the site. | The chief executive of Cuadrilla, Francis Egan, said he hoped within a year it would become clear whether it was economically viable to extract shale gas from the site. |
| “The start of work on our new shale gas exploration site is an important milestone for Lancashire, bringing new economic growth and jobs for the county. The work will be undertaken to the highest safety and environmental standards,” he said. | “The start of work on our new shale gas exploration site is an important milestone for Lancashire, bringing new economic growth and jobs for the county. The work will be undertaken to the highest safety and environmental standards,” he said. |
| Although Cuadrilla has planning permission for four wells at the site, it will concentrate on drilling a pilot well 3,500 metres deep this year, and two horizontal wells. | Although Cuadrilla has planning permission for four wells at the site, it will concentrate on drilling a pilot well 3,500 metres deep this year, and two horizontal wells. |
| Claire Stephenson, of local residents group Preston New Road Action Group, said the first they had heard of construction starting was via media reports. | |
| “If this is Cuadrilla’s delivery of their ‘community engagement’ standards, they have failed in the first instance. Local residents were not even informed of their plans. It’s discourteous and reaffirms the continued lack of social license that this company has in Lancashire and beyond,” she told the Guardian. | |
| Rose Dickinson, a campaigner at Friends of the Earth, said: “This is brashness and arrogance from Cuadrilla, especially so while legal challenges from people in the local community are pending. What this action does is further erode any chance of trust in this company.” | |
| Environmental activists last year vowed to fight fracking at the site, promising direct action and “rolling blockades” to delay construction and drilling. | Environmental activists last year vowed to fight fracking at the site, promising direct action and “rolling blockades” to delay construction and drilling. |