“With this in mind, it is important that policy related to shale gas extraction reflects this.” The announcement was opposed by several Tory MPs in the House of Commons. Sir Greg Knight said: “Isn’t it true that predicting the occurrence of seismic events as a result of fracking remains a challenge for experts? “Doesn’t continuing shale gas exploration at the present time therefore create a risk of an unknown amount? “Does he know that public safety is not a currency that some of us choose to speculate on?” Mark Menzies, Lancashire’s Tory MP, said ministers must determine how they will get local consent from fracking if Ms Truss is “a woman of her word”. Mr Rees-Mogg said while he had “no official” to announce about local consent, fracking companies would be required to provide compensation packages for those living near their sites. “We shouldn’t be ashamed of paying people who will be the ones who won’t have the direct benefit of natural gas but will have the disruption,” he said. He added: “The hysteria about seismic activity, I think, doesn’t understand that the Richter scale is a logarithmic scale. “This (fracking) is so important, and it’s pure ridiculousness to oppose it.”
