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Protesters Rally Against Drilling for Shale Gas in Lancashire (VIDEO)

The Guardian has reported that protesters blocked the entrance to the Lancashire fracking site of the UK shale gas company Cuadrilla on the day fracking operations were set to start for the first time in seven years.
Sputnik

Protesters are gathering for a rally in Blackpool on October 20, as fracking for shale gas is set to resume in the UK.

Last week, environmentalists lost a high court dispute to thwart Cuadrilla's fracking plans in Lancashire and the company was to begin its operations on October 13, but the works were postponed until October 15 over weather conditions.

The company later started its scheduled operations despite the protests.

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Cuadrilla's renewed plans to launch a fracking site in Lancashire have been met with strong resistance from the local community due to concerns that the technology of extracting gas by hydraulic fracturing has high risks of causing seismic activity.

In 2011, the company admitted that two earthquakes outside Blackpool had likely been caused by fracking on the Fylde coast and subsequently suspended its fracking works in the United Kingdom.

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