200+ fracking holes in Maidstone and The Weald?

It seems that fracking has the support of local Lib Dems and Tories, judging by the emails and letters I've received today.

Helen Grant, MP for Maidstone and The Weald, in response to my letter to her, has sent me the script of her piece in this week's Kent Messenger saying that 'fracking could be a very positive development for our country'.

The Lib Dems in Maidstone are sending out ambivalent messages which basically support fracking: 'For the future I think we have to look very carefully at how we wish to keep a supply of “Clean” energy. As an industrial country we need supplies and if we don’t like fossil , Nuclear or wind generated fuel then you have to ask, where do we get our energy from?'

Perhaps they need to look at the number of likely drilling sites. Alan Whitehead (a Labour MP) has provided some calculations which suggest an average of 160 to 170 wells per constituency would be needed if the country was to extract 10% of the shale gas as is being suggested. Worse still, areas with high levels of shale gas would have far more wells - i.e.the Weald.

And even worse still is the leak from the British Geological Survey in the Times: "Hundreds of millions of barrels of shale oil lie under the Weald in the South East of England, the British Geological Survey is expected to announce soon."

With arsenic being found in the water supplies near fracking sites and the country being heavily reliant on aquifer water supplies, there ain't gonna be much drinking water for Mrs Grant's constituents if this goes where it looks like it is going.