MOSCOW, September 26 (RIA Novosti) - Scottish government calls on London to follow through on its promises made during the referendum campaign, and to give Edinburgh extra powers, which must cover fracking, BBC reported Friday.
"Whatever your view on the issue of unconventional oil and gas - and it is clear that there are both opportunities and concerns - there is only one way that the people of Scotland can determine the approach in Scotland - including beneath their homes and land. That is with the devolution of the necessary powers to Scotland and the current devolution process for the extensive new powers promised in the vow should include these powers," Scotland's energy minister Fergus Ewing was quoted by BBC as saying.
Ewing's statement comes after the United Kingdom decided to go ahead with its plans to let companies drill under private land without permission.
Before the policy implementation, British Department for Energy and Climate Change asked over 40,000 respondents whether the government should legislate for underground access to gas, oil and geothermal developers below 300m.
Although 99 percent of questioned people opposed the idea, government still decided to go ahead with it.
"The role of the consultation was to seek arguments and evidence to consider in developing the proposed policy. Whilst a wide range of arguments were raised and points covered, we did not identify any issues that persuaded us to change the basic form of the proposals," the UK government said as cited by BBC.
Fracking involves pumping chemicals, water and sand at high pressure underground to fracture shale rock and release the gas trapped in it. Sometimes, wells are drilled horizontally, allowing exploration under land around drilling site.
