YORK’S first fracking exploratory well is due to be drilled in the city area before the end of the year, an opposition group has claimed.
Frack-Free York said the vertical exploration well is scheduled to be sunk by December 31 in licence area 146, which covers an area to the west, south-west and north-west of York including villages such as Wigginton, Rufforth and Askham Bryan.
Spokeswoman Leigh Coghill said the Oil and Gas Authority had confirmed that the current work programme for the ‘PEDL 146’ licence area was for IGAS to drill a vertical exploration well by December 31, acquire new seismic data by December 31, 2019, drill a horizontal well by December 31, 2020 and conduct flow testing by June 20, 2021.
She said it was unclear whether an existing well in Wigginton, which was drilled in 2011 to explore a seam of coal rather than shale gas, would be a particular target for the fresh well.
Susan Turner, a co-founder of Haxby and Wigginton Against Fracking, claimed there was a ‘shocking’ lack of information. “No-one living near the potential fracking site in Wigginton or elsewhere has been told of this timeframe; we are being completely left in the dark,” she said.
“I have had to become a detective to uncover these plans which would utterly transform our local environment and peaceful way of life.”
Leigh said that whether the drilling went ahead depended on whether the Conservatives - who were committed to fracking - won the General Election tomorrow, with Labour, Lib Dems and Greens having all promised to ban it.
“Progress of this development is likely to hinge on who is in government at the end of the week, as the Conservative manifesto has promised to proceed with fracking and take decision making power away from local authorities.
“Plans for fracking include forming a new ‘National Planning Regime’ who would make decisions on shale gas applications, rather than City of York Council.”
IGAS said: “We are considering our options in respect of PEDL 146.
“Readers should be reassured that we always communicate with local communities in advance of any activity we undertake.
“If we were to undertake any hydraulic fracking we would need to submit a planning application.”
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