Robust fracking regime beefed up by Government

At the end of last month, as the Infrastructure Bill was making its final scheduled passage through parliament, a significant series of amendments were made.

The 11th hour adjustments came despite months and months of the government repeatedly saying that the fact the UK has one of the “most robust regulatory regimes” in the world, should be enough to calm public concern.

But, without even forcing it to a vote in the Commons, energy minister Amber Rudd, who was leading the debate on this section of the bill for the government, adopted the opposition’s amendments in whole. This was greeted by cheers from those sitting on the Labour benches.

Shadow energy secretary Carline Flint called it “a huge U-turn by the government and a big victory for the protection of Britain’s environment.”

Yet, a couple of days after the statute paper had the new clauses added to it, the government, in the form of environment secretary Liz Truss came out and said the amendments that Labour pushed for and successfully got incorporated into the Infrastructure Bill were, all along, government policies.

Truss said that, whilst not in legislation, the government was already implementing the “robust regulation” Labour called for in partnership with industry, the Environment Agency, and the Health and Safety Executive – on a voluntary basis.

So, after the last minute adaptations to the Bill, that is now set for Ping-Pong as peers examine the amendments MPs have made to the entire Bill – including those on fracking – where does this leave the nascent shale gas industry.

The full list of “tighter regulations” (see box) does set out stricter regulations aimed at protecting drinking water sources, as well as, according to Flint, address “people’s genuine and legitimate environmental concerns over shale gas”.

But while everything has changed, not that much has changed at the same time.

The Memorandum of understanding struck between Water UK and The UK Onshore Oil and Gas (UKOOG) group in November 2013 is a strong agreement whereby both parties will work together to “identify and resolve risks” around baseline monitoring requirements as well as plans relating to site water management to assess impacts of onshore oil and gas development on the quality and quantity of local water resources.

Alongside this, the MoU also set out a provisions for shale gas companies and the water companies to look at the impact on water demand at specific locations should fracking take place.

The expected volumes and chemical and biological composition of waste water, as well as preferred disposal routes, will also be assessed.

At the time, UKOOG chief executive ken Cronin said the regulations surrounding fracking where “the most stringent in the world” and the MoU added “tough and transparent guidelines” on top of these.

Water UK chief executive Pamela Taylor said the MoU “gives water companies a crucial extra layer of safeguards on top of the existing regulations”.

So whilst there were no complaints with the way things were in terms of regulations, Water UK’s members were “unanimously” behind the drive to make them statutory consultees in fracking planning applications – something now achieved via the Infrastructure Bill.

However, the key planning decisions will still be made by the local planning authorities – subject to the required permits being awarded to the fracking developer, as was the case before the amendments.

Local communities hosting a drilling sit will still get their benefits from the company doing the work, and well monitoring will continue to be obligatory.

Some tougher elements of the Bill will push back the start of shale gas extraction – the 12 month monitoring period before any development can take place is a prime example of that.

Indeed, Cronin pointed out that “most of the amendments agreed are in line with best practice in the industry or codify the directions of regulators, which the industry would naturally comply with”.

The tough and robust regulatory regime has essentially been formalised, after the government has failed to win the hearts and minds of middle England. Realising this, they have adopted Labour’s changes, and will continue to go “all out for shale gas”.

The key to this is finding out and understanding just how much shale gas the UK has, and how much can economically be extracted. This, rather than the minutia of the regulations surrounding shale gas will be the real determining factor for the future of fracking.

As Cronin said after the Infrastructure Bill left the Commons: “We now need to get on with exploratory drilling to find out the extent of the UK’s oil and gas reserves.”