The multi-national chemicals company INEOS has called for the government to increase the shale seismicity limit from 0.5 to "a more sensible level on the Richter scale". In the United States, the seismicity limit is typically set at 4.0 on the Richter Scale.
In response Dr Doug Parr, Chief Scientist for Greenpeace UK, said: “For years those worried about fracking have been assured that our safety regulations are far tougher than those in the US. Now that the industry is having trouble sticking to UK regulations, we’re assured US regulations are perfectly adequate and should be copied here. We do not feel reassured.
"The first well to be fracked in the UK [Preese Hall, near Blackpool] had to be abandoned because it suffered deformation from tremors of less than 2.3 on the Richter scale. But now Ineos are telling us that tremors many times stronger than this are completely safe. What this really means is that Ineos have discovered that it is impossible to frack safely in the UK, and so they want permission to frack unsafely.”
* Read the study into the Preese Hall well deformation, recommending the current seismic limit here
* Greenpeace UK https://www.greenpeace.org.uk/
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