In post #7 I said -
"One saving grace for us in east Lancs is that the coal bearing shale we have is unlikely to be worth fracking, because the 'vast methane reserves' are in Cheshire and Bowland where a different type of shale rock predominates."
However, it seems that there
is a fracking technique to extract gas from coal seams, so east lancs
could be fracked.
Fracking the nation: the dash for gas beneath rural Britain | Environment | The Guardian
extract -
"Coalbed methane extraction is a related method, which is actually at a more advanced stage in the UK. It involves the drilling of wells into coal seams followed by the pumping out of water, which results in gas being released by the coal, and being brought to the surface. Lastly, there is the so-called underground coal gasification now proposed for – among other places – an area beneath Swansea Bay in west Wales, which involves the partial burning of subterranean coal deposits"
I am astounded by the lunacy of burning coal seams underground. There is one silver lining to converting
UK into one big gas producing land mass wasteland - no immigrant will want to live here, but then,
neither will we.