Mr Andrew Smith – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mr Andrew Smith on 2014-03-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, if he will take steps to regulate hydraulic fracturing to minimise the leakage of methane from shale gas production into the environment.

Michael Fallon

The Environment Agency has set out its regulatory controls over leakage of methane from shale gas exploration in its draft technical guidance. The Agency expects operators to aim for 100% containment of fugitive emissions of methane on shale gas exploration sites and the operator will need to provide details of how their monitoring, inspection and maintenance regime will achieve this. The Environment Agency is assessing its regulation of full production facilities and the expectation is that the requirement for 100% containment will remain in place.