Anthropogenic Earthquake: Fracking go-ahead despite new fears

Plans to extract gas using a controversial method linked to an increase in earthquakes have been given the go-ahead in Scotland for the first time.

The practice of fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, involves pumping water, sand and chemicals at high pressure into shale rock, to release the gas it holds.

An independent geological report recently found that fracking had triggered two minor earthquakes on the Lancashire coast earlier this year.

The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency has granted a licence to Greenpark Energy to extract gas trapped in coal near the mining village of Canonbie in Dumfries and Galloway.