For a couple of days I've been meaning to mention Richard North's article about attempts within the EU to crush the onshore gas industry before it even gets off the ground. However, before I got round to doing so, the Commission seems to have backed down:
Fracking for cheap gas moved a step closer today after EU officials dropped proposals for new industry regulations.
The Prime Minister had written to EU president José Manuel Barroso warning him the move would hamper investment and cost jobs.
And after the rethink, David Cameron said: “I was just very worried that while we are already behind on fracking and unconventional gas compared to America, we would fall even further behind if we had more legal processes to go through.
Whether this is the end of his particular road for the greens in the Environment Directorate of the EU remains to be seen.