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Fracking

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing the debate and giving the issue such rigorous, thoughtful and well researched attention, as it deserves.

The role of unconventional gas and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is indeed topical. I have just come back from the United States, and no one there who takes the slightest interest in the energy or climate change agenda can fail to be moved by the huge impact that it is having on the economics and politics of energy—the huge potential benefits to the US economy, the challenges presented to other parts of the energy sector, and the questions raised about the long-term climate change implications of the new fossil fuel.