// Controversial gas drilling did cause a series of earthquakes along the Lancashire coastline, a report today confirmed.
Gas company Cuadrilla Resources, which is extracting shale gas in the region, commissioned the independent study after two tremors shook Fylde coastline in April and May this year.
Energy chiefs have now sent a stark warning to the firm - either stop the earthquakes or be shut down.
It comes after Cuadrilla held urgent talks with the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to consider the report into the risk of earthquakes associated with 'fracking' - the process used to extract shale gas.
The meetings followed the British Geological Survey's conclusion that the two tremors felt nearby were most likely to have been caused by fracking.
On April 1, a magnitude 2.3 earthquake shook the North-West. It originated less than two miles from an experimental shale gas well near Blackpool run by Cuadrilla.
A second tremor occurred on May 27 with a magnitude of 1.5. The epicentre was within 500 yards of the well.
The BGS said the correlations between the earthquakes and the time of fracking operations, and the proximity of the quakes to the site, all pointed towards the earthquakes being a result of the fracking process. //
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2050025/Earthquakes-Lancashire-coast-WERE-caused-drilling-gas-experts-warn-energy-operation-threatened-closure.html