First country to ban hydraulic fracturing

Hydraulic fracturing, better known as "fracking", is a technique to extract hydrocarbons from the Earth using a high-pressure mixture of water, sand and chemicals, which fracture the rock allowing liquids to flow more easily. Environmental risks, such as polluting groundwater and potentially causing earthquakes, make fracking a controversial method in many countries. On 30 June 2011 the French parliament voted a complete ban on its use in France.