Fracking Review Suggests UK Has Softened Precautionary Principle since Leaving EU – Here’s Why It Matters

Fracking continues to pose risks. Particularly so in the UK, where dense rocks make tremors likely during water injection. Up to 3.5 million gallons can be injected at each well, generating huge amounts of wastewater, which typically contains a highly combustible greenhouse gas called methane and radioactive material. The UK simply does not have the capacity to handle the radioactive waste if several fracking wells are operating at once.

Since late 2019, when the UK last conducted its scientific review of fracking, several studies have found an increase in airborne radioactivity within a 20-kilometre radius of fracking sites, a direct effect of fracking on infant health, pregnant people and children, and pulverising of the Earth’s bedrock which releases uranium. The UK government, while permitting the recent scientific review of fracking, did not mention these developments.