“Crazy views,” the energy crisis and the war in Ukraine are driving factors for renewed interest in fracking, one MP claimed.
Labour’s Chris Matheson said he was concerned plans for the practice could be revived near his Chester constituency.
A government review is reassessing fracking, which was halted in the UK in 2019 due to opposition from activists.
Economy Minister Kwasi Kwarteng said every government policy is “guided by science”.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service said previous attempts to investigate shale gas extraction using the practice had sparked fierce opposition across Cheshire.
The Cheshire West and Chester Council Planning Committee overwhelmingly rejected Island Gas’s plan to test a shale gas well in Portside North on the outskirts of Ellesmere Port in 2018.
The company’s appeal led to a lengthy public inquiry in 2019 and the inspector’s subsequent report, which was forwarded to the Foreign Secretary, has yet to be released.
Mr Matheson said he had real concerns the country’s energy crisis could see a case for fracking in Cheshire being renewed as some right-wing groups “attempted to move away from environmental protection and sustainability”.
“On the right is this resistance to net zero [with] People say it’s not feasible and that it would hurt economically [while] on the fringes are the climate change deniers,” he said.
“We cannot allow the crazy views of the right to prevail.”
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He added that the war in Ukraine and the resulting soaring gas prices meant “the government saw an opportunity to put it back on the table”.
In a statement, Mr Kwarteng said the government has “always been and will always be guided by science on shale gas”.
“Until the latest scientific evidence shows that shale gas extraction is safe, sustainable and has minimal disruption to those who live and work nearby, the hiatus in England will remain in place,” he added.
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