UK farmers fear financial ruin as UK plans to push fracking on their lands without compensation

© Reuters / Toby Melville
UK farmers fear fracking could leave
them financially ruined, the National
Farmers' Union warns.

SOTT | Oct 6, 2014 | RT

British farmers fear extreme financial difficulty as a result of government plans to push through shale gas drilling on their land without the promise of compensation, the UK's National Farmers' Union warns.

UK ministers in favor of fracking must not assume the backing of rural communities, the union cautions, stressing that such a move could stoke the ire of farmers concerned about a depreciation in the value of their land.

A failure to show consideration for farmers' concerns may risk turning them against shale gas exploration and drilling in their locales altogether, the NFU told the Telegraph on Monday.

Nevertheless, the government is pursuing a legislative shift, which will strip UK citizens of the right to obstruct plans to frack beneath their land or property. The coalition has confirmed compensation will not be issued to UK homeowners or landowners forced to tolerate fracking on their land - insisting gas and oil extraction will not spark a reduction in the value of land on which such processes occur.

But the NFU, which represents the interests of 55,000 members and 47,000 agricultural and farming businesses throughout Wales and England, says many of its members are acutely concerned that fracking could reduce the value of their land even if no ecological or environmental damage is sustained.

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