Essay by Eric Worrall
North Yorkshire councillor and anti-fracking activist Steve Mason has demanded a little known loophole in Britain’s fracking ban be closed.
Government urged to rewrite definition of fracking
BY RUTH HAYHURST ON
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The proposed new definition would close loopholes that currently allow lower-volume fracking, the author said.
The call came in a briefing document, published just before the definition of fracking could be critical in deciding a controversial planning application.
The briefing is by Steve Mason, a North Yorkshire councillor, member of the North York Moors National Park Authority, campaign director of the anti-fracking network, Frack Free United, and a sustainability researcher.
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The law currently defines associated hydraulic fracturing as fracking for shale or strata encased in shale that uses more than 1,000m3 per stage or 10,000m3 in total.
This volume threshold would allow plans by Europa Oil & Gas, to be decided on Friday (24 April 2026), to frack at Burniston in North Yorkshire.
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Read more: https://drillordrop.com/2026/04/21/government-urged-to-rewrite-definition-of-fracking/
I just have one question – how did someone like Steve Mason ever get elected as a councillor in Yorkshire? Farming is the backbone of the North Yorkshire economy. Don’t farmers need lots of diesel? Yet one of their elected representatives is campaigning against a tiny legal loophole which might allow a trickle of locally sourced fuel to be made available.
I’ve never known Yorkshiremen to be backward in coming forward. Perhaps it’s time Yorkshire farmers made it known to their elected representatives what their priorities should be.
