Fracking plans must meet guidelines to protect environment

INEOS’S ambitions to frack for shale gas in Runcorn and Widnes will now have to satisfy three climate change conditions before being allowed to operate.

The Government’s independent advisory group the Committee On Climate Change (CCC) said hydraulic fracturing can go ahead if companies’ hydraulic fracturing schemes meet these criteria

First is that the emissions must be strictly limited during shale gas development, production and well decommissioning, with tight regulation, close monitoring of emissions, and rapid action to address methane leaks.

Second, overall gas consumption must remain in line with UK carbon budgets, with the production of UK shale gas required to displace imports rather than increase gas consumption.

Third, emissions from shale gas production must be accommodated within UK carbon budgets, in that reductions will have to be made in other parts of the economy.

The CCC said it was not known whether the targets ‘will be met easily or not’ but the group will now monitor steps taken by the Government and report Whitehall’s performance to the public based on its three climate change conditions.

In June, the Weekly News reported that industry giant Ineos was planning to test Halton for its shale gas potential including seismic assessments.

The company said it was ‘early days’ for the proposals with a myriad of geological and regulatory hurdles to cross before extraction would take place.

Ineos has also applied to install a massive gas storage facility in underground caverns north of Middlewich in midCheshire with the capacity to store 500m cubic metres of gas, although it has not said whether this is linked to its fracking ambitions in the county.

The CCC has said its three tests must be met in order for hydraulic fracturing to take place.

Professor Jim Skea, CCC member, said: “Under best practice, UK shale gas may have a lower carbon footprint than much of the gas that we import. “However, gas is a fossil fuel wherever it comes from and is not a low-carbon option, unless combined with carbon capture and storage.

“This report sets out the tests that must be met for shale gas development to be consistent with UK carbon budgets.

“Existing uncertainties over the nature of the exploitable shale gas resource and the potential size of a UK industry make it impossible to know how difficult it will be to meet the tests.

“Clarification of the regulation of the sector will also be needed.

He added: “The CCC will provide ongoing, independent assessment of whether these tests are being met.”