I SEE the Prime Minister is getting carried away with fracking again. It is easy to worry that he has been infected by the spirit of JR Ewing from the oil-fired TV soap Dallas.

The man sometimes known as Call Me Dave has taken to wearing a metaphorical Stetson as he plans what sounds like a fracking free-for-all. In this new persona, David Cameron becomes Call Me JR as he declares that his government is “going all out for shale”.

In a moment of distraction, I got my wires crossed and a famous line from Dallas floated into my mind. This was the one about: “Who shot Michael Gove?” But perhaps I have allowed personal thoughts to intrude here.

Call Me JR made two announcements on Monday. Firstly he said that local councils would be entitled to keep 100 per cent of business rates raised from fracking sites. Secondly, he blithely announced that the economic benefits of fracking should over-ride any environmental concerns.

Of those two tin-plated clangers, it was the second that made me drop my fork while eating my tea with the radio news on. Surely too little is yet known about fracking to say with such certainty that the relatively short-term financial benefits – lasting, estimates suggest, from between 20 and 40 years – should outweigh any environmental worries.

I don’t know that much about the natural environment, but I do know that it is likely to be around for more than 20 to 40 years. So any further injuries we inflict on the earth should be seen with a long lens, not through a magnifying glass held in front of a balance sheet.

As for local authorities being allowed to keep 100 per cent of business rates from fracking operations, rather than 50 per cent as at present, well I think that’s what is known colloquially as a back-hander.

Local councils need to be able to consider the environment first, as most local people tend to live in the environment. It’s the only place to be. Councils should not have their hands forced when considering whether or not to allow fracking in their regions; they should make their decisions without being leant on by a Prime Minister wearing an imaginary Stetson.

It was heartening to read in Tuesday’s Press the comment from Linda Cowling, the Tory leader of Ryedale District Council, that she was not really interested in the money: “What I really need to know is whether it is damaging to the environment.”

That is what everyone needs to know, without the Prime Minister scattering pound signs in front of their eyes.

Worries about the potential damage caused by fracking include the pollution of local water supplies, setting off local earthquakes and even people being able to ignite their taps because of gas drilling nearby. This last one is clearly extreme, and only useful should you wish to char-grill a steak in the sink.

Proponents of fracking will tell you that such stories are scaremongering, and perhaps they are. Yet too much still remains unknown about this process, during which high-pressure water and chemicals are blasted into the ground to fracture rock and thereby release trapped gas.

It has also just been announced that the French oil company Total is investing £12.7 million in fracking sites in Britain – something which it cannot do at home, because the French government has banned the process, for fear of the harm it might do to the countryside.

Such concerns seem not to worry David Cameron. This is the man, remember, who once promised to lead the “greenest government ever”. Oh well, perhaps he now forgets saying that. Or maybe he would prefer to borrow a quote from JR Ewing: “A conscience is like a boat or a car. If you feel you need one, rent it.”

• LAST Saturday, a group of us went on a walk from Ampleforth, heading towards Byland Abbey, and then to Wass and upwards. The weather was glorious, the countryside beautiful, with the hills rolling away like waves to meet, eventually, a vermillion sunset.

Nothing spoilt this walk at all. But it is fair to say that coming across fracking drilling rigs would have taken the edge off the day.