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Storage of Carbon Dioxide (Inspections etc.) Regulations 2012

My Lords, the development of carbon capture and storage is a significant strand in my department’s work for decarbonising the UK’s energy supplies and therefore for the transition to a low-carbon economy. The Government are committed to making the UK a leading player in CCS. Creating an effective, fit-for-purpose licensing regime is necessary to ensure the safe, long-term storage of carbon dioxide and is a necessary condition for the effective deployment of CCS. The Energy Act 2008 provides for a licensing regime for carbon dioxide storage in the UK, for the appointment of inspectors, and for regulations to be made about their powers and duties. In October 2010, the Government made the licensing regulations that transpose into UK law most of the requirements of the EU directive on the geological storage of carbon dioxide. These regulations are necessary to ensure compliance with Article 15 of the directive, which deals with inspections of storage sites, and put in place an important element of the licensing regime to ensure the safe, long-term storage of carbon dioxide. Article 15 requires that the competent authorities organise a system of routine and non-routine inspections of all storage complexes within the scope of the directive for the purposes of checking and promoting compliance with the requirements of the directive and of monitoring effects on the environment and on human health. It states that inspections should include activities such as visits to the surface installations, including the injection facilities, assessing the injection and monitoring operations carried out by the operator, and checking all relevant records kept by the operator. Article 15 further requires that routine inspections shall be carried out at least once a year until three years after the closure of a storage site, and subsequently every five years until responsibility for the relevant storage site is transferred to the competent authority. These regulations amend the existing licensing regulations to implement those requirements. The form of the powers given to inspectors is the same as those that our inspectors have under other regimes to inspect and monitor offshore installations used for oil and gas activities. The bringing into effect of these regulations achieves these requirements and will essentially complete the transposition of the directive. I therefore commend them to the Committee and I beg to move.