But in a written statement to MPs on Thursday, Mr Rees-Mogg suggested the risk of further earthquakes was worth taking and more data could be collected when drilling resumes. “While HM Government will always seek to limit disruption to those who live and work near the sites, tolerating a greater degree of risk and disruption seems to us to be in the national interest given the circumstances described above,” he said. .
“With this in mind, it is important that policy regarding shale gas extraction reflects this.”
The announcement was opposed by several Conservative MPs in the House of Commons.
Sir Greg Knight said: “Isn’t it the case that predicting the occurrence of seismic events as a result of fracking remains a challenge for experts?
“Is it not, therefore, creating a risk of an unknown amount to continue shale gas exploration at the present time?
“Are you aware that public safety is not a currency that some of us choose to speculate on?”
Lancashire Tory MP Mark Menzies said ministers must set out how they will get local consent for fracking if Ms Truss is a “woman of her word”.
Rees-Mogg said that while he had no “formal thing” to announce about local consent, fracking companies would be asked to provide compensation packages for those living near their sites.
“We shouldn’t be ashamed of paying people who will be the ones who won’t get the immediate benefit of gas, but they will have the disruption,” he said.
He added: “The hysteria about seismic activity, I think, doesn’t understand that the Richter scale is a logarithmic scale.
“This (fracking) is so important, and it’s pure nonsense to oppose it.”