The Lancashire County Council (United Kingdom) has rejected two shale gas project applications filed by Cuadrilla Resources, considering that they would have an "unacceptable" environmental impact. The company had submitted two applications to drill, fracture and flow test up to four wells at Preston New Road and at Roseacre Wood.
So far, only one shale gas well in Britain has been hydraulically-fractured. Cuadrilla Resources had to abandon its Blackpool shale gas project in northern England after it caused an earth tremor leading to an 18-month ban on "fracking" (lifted in 2012). Since then, only three fracking applications have been submitted, one by Third Energy and two by Cuadrilla (which have just been rejected).
This decision is a hard blow to the British shale gas sector, which is supported by the government, in an attempt to replicate the US success in gas production.