Europe's long-overdue fresh look at fracking

It’s just amazing — amazing, I tell you — that giving people an economic interest in this resource might encourage them to support its development.

Truss’s move is a welcome one, but even if local objections can be overcome, the amount of reserves remains highly disputed. Making matters worse, would-be investors in fracking projects must contend with the reality that Britain is likely to have a Labour government in a little over two years. The chances that such a government will reinstate the fracking ban are high, except perhaps if it can be shown by then that the U.K. has enough in the way of frackable reserves to make a difference.

But an even greener country (at least notionally) also appears to be ready to take another look at fracking.