The UK’s shale carrot
Will paying people to like fracking change the outlook for UK gas?
PRIME minister Theresa May's new government wants to make fracking more palatable for the public by offering up to £1bn ($1.3bn) in payments to them over the next 25 years. The Shale Wealth Fund (SWF), announced on 8 August, would use up to 10% of tax revenues from future shale gas production and give the funds to the public. The crucial difference between the SWF and previous government pledges to compensate for shale gas development is that now the money will go straight to individual households - not handed out to local authorities. The SWF even betters a previous shale gas compensation pledge from petrochemical giant Ineos - which wants to drill for shale gas - to pay local communities 6
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