Dear Editor

Fracking may come here to West Wales and we really should know just how dangerous and polluting this industry is.

This is a critical moment for Britain. The government’s plans to introduce fracking will change the UK forever.

Both the Prime Minster David Cameron and energy minister Michael Fallon have told us to get ready for fracking. Already over 60 per cent of the country will be licensed for fracking and planning rules are being changed to allow for central government to override community objections.

The government is telling us that fracking is safe even though it is banned in several European countries and American states. There is substantial evidence showing that fracking causes above and below ground water pollution, including contamination of the aquifer that supplies much of our drinking water, plus soil contamination, earth tremors, and a threatens the health of all forms of life, be it human, bird, fish, and livestock.

We know that this technology will not bring down fuel bills and will not provide a jobs boom but it has the potential to leave a damaging environmental legacy for future generations.

We need to talk about fracking. I believe that the government must suspend fracking immediately, while a genuinely independent balanced and thorough public debate is held into the potential dangers this industry holds for the UK.

Fracking might provide a short term supply of fossil fuel but at great cost to our environment including destruction of our drinking water supply. Imagine a world where tap water is poisonous and you have to buy bottled drinking water.

Mike Godsell

Dreifa Mills, Cwmorgan, Newcastle Emlyn