'The Stone Age didn't end because they ran out of stones'

The easy answer: geography and population. Take North Dakota, one of the states where fracking takes place. It has a total population of just 760,000 people in an area almost the size of England and Scotland. The population of England and Scotland is 62 million.

It is not surprising that few people are close to fracking operations in North Dakota.

Not that fracking is without its problems in the US. It is banned in Vermont and about to be banned in California. It causes earthquakes and environmental damage across the US, including in North Dakota where they are diverting $66million designated for coronavirus relief to clean up polluted wells the oil industry has abandoned.

The fossil fuel age is way past its sell-by date. It needs to end now. Far better to focus on clean energy instead of polluting the environment and threatening our children’s futures. The Stone Age didn’t end because they ran out of stones, Mr Rickaby.

Christian Vassie, Blake Court, Wheldrake, York

Fuel cap means we’ll all save on bills

Cllr Tony Fisher’s contributions to the letters and subsequent online comments have contributed to open democracy. But his letter on fuel bill caps and his excoriation of the new PM is both factually incorrect and unfair (Why capping fuel bills is not fair for all of us, Letters, Sept 12).

The recently-announced caps are on the cost of an individual unit of gas or electricity. The cap of £2,500 is merely an average example. His subsequent conclusions are wrong. Everybody saves.

Mike Huffington, Walmgate, York