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  Courtesy BBC News.................
  
  Michael Fallon defends fracking comments
  
  Mr Fallon has described fracking as an "exciting new energy resource"
  
  Villagers meet fracking protesters
  
  Peer to visit 'desolate' North East
  
  Energy minister Michael Fallon has defended comments about fracking, in which he appeared
  
  to suggest the process would affect those living near gas drilling sites.
  
  Mr Fallon told a private meeting it would test "how thick their rectory walls are" and "whether
  
  they like the flaring at the end of the drive".
  
  In the past, he has described shale gas as an "exciting new energy resource".
  
  The Tory minister told the BBC his latest comments were "light hearted".
  
  His remarks, reported in the Mail on Sunday, were thought to be aimed at Spectator magazine
  
  journalist and former Daily Telegraph editor Charles Moore, who lives in a rectory in East Sussex and has written
  
  about his support for fracking.
  
  The comments came amid protests against potential fracking in West Sussex.
  
  Fracking uses high-pressure liquid pumped deep underground to fracture shale rock and release gas.
  
  Environmentalists fear it can cause small earth tremors, water contamination and environmental damage.
  
  Friends of the Earth said Mr Fallon's comments would "resonate across the UK and fuel more opposition
  
  to the government's disastrous support for fracking".
  
  "We need an energy policy based on cutting waste and developing the nation's huge renewable power
  
  potential - not one that wrecks our clean and pleasant land," a spokesman said.

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