Shale gas commissioner resigns over fracking policy

The UK’s shale gas commissioner has stepped down after just six months in the role expressing her opposition to government policy that halts fracking when a 0.5-magnitude tremor is recorded.

Natascha Engel, who had been appointed to act as a link between local communities, industry and regulators, said the policy amounted to a “de facto ban on fracking”.

“We are choosing to listen to a powerful environmental lobby campaigning against fracking rather than allowing science and evidence to guide our policymaking,” she is quoted by news agency Reuters as having said in her resignation letter. “By staying silent, we are in danger of pandering to what we know to be myths and scare stories.”