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Like Neil, I've been sifting through various pieces of information consisting of facts, opinions, hysteria, lies, damned lies, statistics, and even Daily Mirror articles.
CBM extraction doesn't require fracking but I understand that it does require the release of huge quantities of water (from strata well below the aquifers from which we draw our water supplies) in order to release the trapped gas. The problem is that the aquifers are prone to potential contamination, firstly during the drilling process; secondly by the released water on the way up to the surface; and thirdly by the released water after it reaches the surface. We also need to know precisely what contaminants might exist in this water, and whether they are potentially harmful in the concentrations in which they might be found, and if so, what the drillers are going to do about it. The NCB just let the product of mine dewatering filter back down to the aquifers, and I don't see many people with two heads or seven toes around East Kent nowadays. Chalk is a pretty good filter medium.
The science is much better nowadays, so if we can have assurances from truly independent sources that the risk of harmful contamination can be eliminated, then I am in favour of CBM extraction locally. If not, then I'm against. Test drilling with a well-shielded bore should be no more dangerous than drilling for water.