Legendary thief and saviour of the poor Robin Hood and his Merry Men's resting place would soon be destroyed as the UK will soon begin fracking under Sherwood Forest. In the forest stands Major Oak, an ancient oak tree, where the outlaws rested.
Guy Shrubsole, a Friends of the Earth campaigner, said: "Is nothing sacred? By hunting for shale gas in Sherwood Forest, Ineos is sticking two fingers up at England's green heritage, all in the pursuit of profit."
"The public wants to protect their English countryside and prefers renewable energy, not dirty shale gas, which will only add to climate change," he added.
The tree was voted as the "Britain's favourite tree" in a 2002 survey. The fracking site is also in the vicinity of Center Parcs holiday park.
The company that will be looking for shale gas under the Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire is Ineos, one of the world's largest chemicals company.
Fracking is the process of drilling into Earth to release the gas inside. The UK government has been easily giving permissions to companies for exploratory work after surveys showed that there could be trillions of cubic feet of shale gas.
A previous attempt by energy company Cuadrilla at fracking in a different area was suspended after two earthquakes hit the region. It was "highly probable" the fracking operations led to the earthquakes.
Ineos, however, said that it would make sure that the Major Oak is protected during operations.
Tom Pickering, Ineos's Shale operations director, said: "Any decision to position a well site will take into account environmental features such as the Major Oak and the planning process would also consider those issues."
The operations will only be started after they acquire of seismic data to "understand the subsurface geology including the fracture systems. Only if these tests prove positive, would we then make a decision whether to drill horizontally and frack any wells in the wider licence area," he added.
