Row breaks out over gas pollution study

Research from ReFine led by Newcastle and Durham Universities said that HGV traffic to fracking sites would have a “substantial increases in local air quality pollutants” and damage roads.

It said: “Modelling of NOx emissions showed increases reaching 30 per cent over non-fracking periods and noise levels doubling.”

But the body representing the onshore oil and gas industry UKOOG has said the conclusions were arrived at using US figures which were not applicable to the UK.

Ken Cronin, chief executive of UKOOG, said: “This report into the traffic-related environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing operations released by ReFINE, uses US data, and doesn’t take account of the UK’s strict regulatory and planning regimes which require logistics planning and integrated traffic management to be a part of every planning application.

“Additionally the report’s conclusions fail to take into account that in the UK water is more often available through pipelines, so there is no need to transport it across the country by truck.”