The U.K.’s new energy secretary, Amber Rudd, drew praise from both the oil-and-gas industry and green lobby groups ahead of decisions on the nuclear industry and hydraulic fracturing that other nations will be watching. The appointment of Ms. Rudd, a former parliamentary undersecretary at the Department of Energy and Climate Change, was announced Monday by U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron , who was elected last week with an outright majority. Ms. Rudd is likely to be presiding over the startup of the U.K.’s first fracking operations since 2011 when the government called a moratorium on the controversial technique after tiny earth tremors were detected near a site in northwest England. Protests and local opposition have slowed fracking in the U.K. where only a handful of exploration wells have been drilled and just one well has been fracked. While much of the department’s work is done on creating regulations for […]