It was officially confirmed this week, as if we needed any more evidence, that the two freak minor earthquakes that occurred near the site of Caudrilla’s fracking exploration near Blackpool were the fault of...the fracking exploration (see SchNEWS 790, 788).

The government has now said that unless Caudrilla (not yet a star of Japanese monster movies) can prove that they make remedial measures to make sure the quakes don’t happen again, the fracking will have to stop. Whether this happens or not is uncertain: the potential for profiting from shale gas has pound signs flashing in the eyes of oil’n’gas companies all over the world.

And it hasn’t stopped them in the US: The town of Guy, Arkansas - which happens to lie between a multitude of fracking wells - had more than 700 earthquakes in just  six months earlier this year.

But hey, what’s a bit of man-made, permanent seismic shifting when there’s big bucks to be made? See www.nofrackinguk.com.