2.9 magnitude tremor hits Cuadrilla fracking site – third quake in five days | UK News

Cuadrilla are investigating after a 2.9 magnitude tremor was recorded at its fracking site near Blackpool, the biggest quake yet.

It comes after two others in five days which both were recorded as the strongest at the time.

On Wednesday operations were paused for 18 hours after what it called a “micro seismic” event of magnitude 1.55 was detected at 8.46pm.

On Saturday, an even larger 2.1 magnitude tremor was reported.

The 2.9 magnitude tremor was recorded Monday morning at 8.30am.

The British Geological Survey said: “The induced seismicity event recorded at 07.30 [UTC] near Blackpool today, has been revised from a magnitude of 2.6ML to 2.9ML. This was after further analysis by our seismology team on the location of the event.”

Cuadrilla said in a statement that no hydraulic fracturing was being carried out at the time and none was carried out over the weekend.

Environmental campaign group Friends of the Earth has called for a complete ban on fracking, with spokesman Jamie Peters saying: “This issue of earthquakes in connection to unwanted fracking has always been serious but now it is getting out of hand.”

Heather Goodwin, a resident of Lytham St Anne’s near the plant, said: “The walls of my house shook, there was a really deep, guttural roar. For a moment, I really thought my house was going to fall down.

“It only lasted a few seconds but I felt the need to go all round the house and check for damage. We’ve been afraid of this happening. How long before there’s real damage done and people injured?”

The tremor on Saturday also occurred when no fracking was taking place.

Cuadrilla said the tremor, detected at 11.01pm, lasted for about one second.

At the time, a spokeswoman said: “Minor ground movements of this level are to be expected.

“While this event has been felt by people on our site and some local households, it is well below anything that can cause harm or damage to anyone or their property.”

Under UK rules, work must be suspended for 18 hours if seismic activity with a magnitude exceeding 0.5 is detected.

Cuadrilla has previously described this limit as “exceedingly low” and wants a review of the rules, which are much tougher than in the US.

Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, involves injecting water and chemicals at high pressure to break up rock and extract gas.

However, it can cause tremors and is opposed by environmentalists who say it contaminates drinking water, pollutes the air and water and contributes to climate change.

There have been regular protests at the Lancashire site.

Cuadrilla says fracking work will be completed by the end of November, followed by flow testing of the well, with results expected early in 2020.

It hopes exploratory tests will show the potential of shale gas for the UK and estimates around 1,300 trillion cubic feet of gas is contained in the area.

The government says shale gas could be an important new domestic energy source reducing dependency on imports, as well as delivering economic benefits.