Horizon: Fracking – The New Energy Rush

‘It was a gift from the good lord.’ But then American farmer CB Weatherspoon would say that. Firstly because he’s an American farmer. And secondly because he’s sitting on a cheque for $434,000 as a result of selling mining rights to his farm. But how about everyone else? Is fracking – or hydraulic fracturing, as geologists would call it – an energy gamechanger? Or is it leading us towards environmental degradation while enabling us to maintain ruinous consumption habits?

Iain Stewart’s investigation feels somewhat superficial – but that’s at least partly because so little meaningful data has been gathered on the subject. Also, mining companies seem unbelievably secretive, which is hardly a good sign in itself. This feels pretty even-handed: horror stories are balanced against wider benefits. But it’s hard to escape the suspicion that we’re racing, headlong and unregulated, into something that we don’t really understand. Not in any way conclusive, but a useful primer to an increasingly urgent issue.