UK officials reject fracking application

Local officials in an England county Monday rejected what would have been the first hydraulic fracturing operation in the United Kingdom in three years and only its second ever.

The decision by the Lancashire County Council represents a major loss for the conservative government of Prime Minister David Cameron, who had long supported fracking and hoped for a shale gas boom in Lancashire, Reuters reported.

{mosads}Members of the council concluded that fracking would have brought an “unacceptable” level of noise and visual impact to the site in Little Plumpton.

The refusal was unexpected, since planners for the county had recommended its approval. It came four days after the council rejected another fracking application that the planners had not recommended, said Reuters.

“We are surprised and disappointed,” Cuadrilla Resources, the company that had proposed both fracking operations, said in a statement.

Only one natural gas well has been fracked in the U.K., in 2012. The operation was halted when officials linked the fracking to nearby earthquakes and put a nationwide moratorium on the practice.

Environmentalists saw the Little Plumpton rejection as a major victory.

“This decision is a Waterloo for the fracking industry and a triumph for local democracy,” said Daisy Sands, a Greenpeace U.K. energy and climate campaigner.