NAO report details ‘financial pressure’ on local bodies Only three wells fracked to date, well behind plan Environmentalist groups call for end to fracking London — Progress in establishing a shale gas industry in England has been slower than the government planned, a report from the government’s spending watchdog published Wednesday has found. The National Audit Office (NAO) — which helps hold government to account on spending — said in the report that Whitehall had also been unable to estimate how much shale gas could be commercially produced in the UK and therefore had not analyzed the benefits or costs of supporting the industry. The UK government has repeatedly said it supports the development of shale gas in the UK, and in August marked the resumption of fracking at Cuadrilla’s Preston New Road by saying shale gas “could be an important new domestic energy source reducing the level […]