The UK government is pressing ahead with plans to fully embrace shale gas. On July 28, the Department for Energy and Climate Change launched the "14^th onshore licensing round," which invites energy companies to bid for permits to explore for the unconventional gas in previously untouched areas.

In a second stage, the companies can bid for rights to carry out hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to extract the gas.

The plans are controversial in particular because of the wide stretch of land the government intends to release for fracking. It covers 37,000 square miles reaching from central Scotland to the south coast.

Of special concern to environmentalists and conservationists is the fact that national parks, UNESCO World Heritage sites and places declared as Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, including the Norfolk Broads, could be opened to drilling.

An analysis by Greenpeace's Energydesk shows that areas available for licensing include 10 of the country's 13 national parks and the UK's 10 largest cities.

Although firms would have to submit "environmental awareness" statements to show they recognize the importance of such sites and each application for a drilling permit must be personally reviewed, the government has made it clear that permission could be given "in exceptional circumstances." Critics take that escape clause to mean that fracking could take place anyway, as the government can declare it is in the public interest.

A report commissioned by the government earlier said that as many as 2,880 wells could be drilled in the new licence area, and output could cover up to a fifth of UK energy annual gas demand at peak.

While the report said as many as 32,000 jobs could be created, it warned that communities close to drilling sites could see up to 51 truck hauls per day for three years. It also warned of potential strains on wastewater handling and negative effects on the countryside.

Estimates of the volumes of UK shale gas that could be recoverable vary wildly. The US Energy Information Administration says the UK has 5 trillion cubic feet, the British Geological Survey estimates 26 trillion cubic feet. The UK consumes about three trillion cubic feet per year, so that experts guess the exploited reserves would last for between two and a half and 13 years.

The Carbon Brief's blog said acceptance of fracking in the UK appears to be decreasing, the nearer the prospective of drilling activity draws. A government survey in March of this year found that 29% were in favour, 22% opposed and 44% undecided. There are now 130 opposition groups operating. According to an article in the Telegraph newspaper, two-thirds of people in Sussex in the southeast, which has increasingly moved into the government's focus, want a new fracking moratorium.