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The fracking cover-up: Defra censors key report 63 times in 13 pages

A freedom of information request to read Defra’s internal report on the impacts of fracking has let us find out what the government really thinks.

Problem is, the short (13-page) report contained 63 sections that were blanked out.

These include:

• “Three major social impacts on rural communities” — blanked out
• “Impact on house prices” — blanked out
• “Impacts already experienced by communities near fracking sites” — blanked out
• “Impact on businesses and business rates” — blanked out

Only three paragraphs of the Conclusions survived. Even the name of the author was removed.

Most bizarrely, officials claimed that there was a “strong public interest” in withholding the information … from the public!

Source: Daily Mail