The Government believes that shale gas has the potential to be a home-grown energy source which can lead to jobs and economic growth, contribute to our security of supply, and help us achieve our climate change objectives.

The Committee on Climate Change (CCC) has considered whether shale gas production at a significant scale can be compatible with the UK’s carbon budgets, and has conducted that it can if certain conditions are met, which they have set out as three “tests”. These are:

• Methane emissions from shale gas production are minimised and monitored.
• Gas consumption remains within carbon budget limits.
• Any additional shale gas emissions are offset by reductions elsewhere in order to meet carbon budgets.

We believe that our robust regulatory regime and determination to meet our carbon budgets mean those tests can and will be met. As such, we welcome the conclusions, and also the CCC’s belief that shale gas could make a useful contribution to UK energy supplies.

We welcome the recent publication of the IPCC’s special report on 1.5ºC. It sets out the strong case for pursing efforts to limiting global warming to 1.5°C, as set out in the Paris Agreement, and reiterates that current global efforts are not enough to meet this unprecedented challenge. The UK’s way forward is set out in the Clean Growth Strategy and we have committed to asking the Committee on Climate Change for advice on our long-term targets in light of this new evidence.

No specific studies have been carried out on the effect of fracking on the safety of nuclear facilities at Salwick and Heysham but a study was conducted in 2011/12 and consulted upon, which lead to the introduction of a “traffic light” regime for hydraulic fracturing activities, which will ensure that operations are quickly halted and reviewed if unusual levels of seismic activity are observed:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/48330/5055-preese-hall-shale-gas-fracturing-review-and-recomm.pdf.

The level of seismicity at which operations are halted has been set at a precautionary extremely low level in order that events that could be felt at the surface are avoided.

The Oil and Gas Authority, which became an Executive Agency of DECC on 1 April 2015, currently employs 11 geoscientists. One of the 11 geological posts is dedicated to UK onshore oil and gas activity.

Following seismic tremors experienced in 2011 after shale gas hydraulic fracturing near Blackpool, the well operator carried out geomechanical studies to determine the cause. To assist DECC in evaluating these, DECC asked three experts in the fields of seismology, induced seismicity and hydraulic fracturing to make an independent assessment of the studies. The cost of employing these three experts to undertake this work was £28,000. Results of the analysis, published in 2012, can be found on the Government website via the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/48330/5055-preese-hall-shale-gas-fracturing-review-and-recomm.pdf.

I and a number of my officials have made a number of visits to Lancashire in relation to shale gas operations and are regularly in touch with a number of stakeholders in the region.

On 24 April I took part in a conference organised by the North West Energy Taskforce and the two Lancashire Chambers of Commerce in order to highlight to Lancashire business the potential opportunities from successful shale gas development.

Ministers in the Department have met their ministerial counterparts from the Department of Energy in the United States of America on a number of occasions and have had wide-ranging discussions.

All meetings between external organisations and Ministers in the Department of Energy and Climate Change are published on a quarterly basis on the Department's website and are available for download at this link:

http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/accesstoinform/registers/registers.aspx

As has been the case with successive Administrations, it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings.

Our regulatory regime is robust and will ensure that fracking will take place safely and that our environment, including the quality of our water, is properly protected. The Environment Agency will make an assessment of any chemicals an operator proposes to use in fracking and will not authorise the use of hazardous substances where there is an unacceptable risk they would enter groundwater.

Public Health England (PHE) is currently preparing the final version of its independent report into the public health impacts of shale gas extraction: “Review of the Potential Public Health Impacts of Exposures to Chemical and Radioactive Pollutants as a Result of Shale Gas Extraction”. In doing so, all recently published studies of relevance will be taken into account. However, the interim findings of that report, published in October 2013, confirms that risks to public health from shale gas operations can be effectively managed provided operations are properly run and regulated.

The UK has a strong regulatory system which provides a comprehensive and fit for purpose regime for exploratory activities, but we want to continuously improve it. The Office for Unconventional Gas and Oil (OUGO) will work closely with the regulators and industry to ensure

that the regulation of shale gas development is robust enough to safeguard public safety and protect the environment.

No Minister from the Department of Energy and Climate Change has had meetings with the Peel Group concerning discharges into the Manchester ship canal.

United Utilities hold a permit, issued by the Environment Agency, that allows them to treat industrial effluents at Davyhulme prior to discharge into the Manchester ship canal under the environmental permitting regulations 2010. The majority of the flowback fluid from Preese Hall was removed and treated at United Utilities’ industrial effluent treatment facility (ETF) at their Davyhulme water treatment works in Greater Manchester in 2011.

Davyhulme takes in and treats a variety of effluents and a large proportion of the domestic and industrial sewage of Manchester on a daily basis. The final treated effluent from the site is required to meet high environmental standards to ensure protection of the receiving water, in this case the Manchester ship canal.

Shale gas and oil operations involve hydraulic fracturing in wells drilled over a mile down, which at that depth are highly unlikely to have any discernible impacts closer to the surface.

Like any other industrial activity, oil and gas operations require access permission from landowners. At present, landowners do not have an absolute right to block underground drilling. If they refuse to grant consent, the operator can apply to the Secretary of State for a referral of the matter to the courts, which have the power to grant access rights to the operator.

The Government is currently considering whether this existing route is fit for purpose, and what impact this could have on the development of shale gas. We have not yet made a decision on what actions we may take, if any.

We estimate that business rates income from a typical shale gas production site could be worth up to £1.7 million a year.

The rates retention scheme allows business rates income in England to be retained by billing authorities (district councils, metropolitan councils and unitary authorities), county councils, fire and rescue authorities and the Greater London Authority. We will consider how the 100% retention of business rates income on shale gas production sites will be shared among these authorities in an area which hosts a site and consult upon draft regulations prior to implementation from 1 April 2015.

I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

There are a range of controls in place in the UK to prevent contamination of water resources and soils by hydraulic fracturing (fracking). The relevant environmental agency (for England and Wales—the Environment Agency and for Scotland—the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency) must be consulted on all oil and gas drilling proposals to ensure that any operations carried out do not pose unacceptable risks to the environment, including any risk of contamination of local soil or water sources. Furthermore a mineral planning authority may impose planning conditions to ensure that any minerals extraction does not have an unacceptable adverse impact on the natural environment.

Upon decommissioning any well, oil and gas operators are under legal obligations to plug the well, clean up the site and return the site to its original state.

In particular, Schedule 5 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 gives minerals planning authorities the power to impose planning conditions on mineral operators to provide for site restoration and aftercare with their application for minerals extraction (including shale gas). This is to ensure clearance of equipment and for proper restoration of the site once operations have ceased. For sites that are to be returned to agriculture, forestry or amenity purposes, there is an obligation on the mineral operator to look after the site for a maximum period of five years once restoration has been completed.

Operators will also need to consider decommissioning as part of the standard conditions placed on them as part of their environmental permits under the Environmental Permitting regulations 2010. Permit surrender is not possible until sites have been returned to satisfactory conditions.

Assessment of the satisfactory completion of these actions and any necessary further monitoring would be carried out by the planning authority or relevant environment agency as appropriate.

For the longer term, DECC is working with the UK Onshore Operators Group to put in place a robust

scheme to ensure that abandoned wells remain safe and which satisfies, and can be incorporated within, site restoration and remediation agreements under the planning process.

As regards legislative powers to rectify water table contamination, I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to him by the Under-Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Newbury (Richard Benyon), on 26 February 2013, Official Report, column 393W.

Under the Water Resources Act 1991 all shale gas operators in England and Wales must notify the Environment Agency of their intention to drill a borehole and operators must provide details of how they intend to protect water resources, including groundwater, in the construction and use of the borehole. If the Environment Agency is not satisfied, it may serve a notice on the operator to take appropriate measures to conserve water quantity and quality.

If hydraulic fracturing could result in entry of pollutants into groundwater, the Environment Agency would regard the fracturing as a groundwater activity. A permit under the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2010 will then be required to ensure that groundwater is protected. This is in addition to the controls applied by the local Mineral Planning Authority, the Health and Safety Executive and through a notice to drill under the Water Resources Act 1991.

Under the environmental permitting regulations, operators also require permits from the Environment Agency approving their plans for the management and disposal of extractive wastes from drilling and hydraulic fracturing, including waste fracking fluids.

Should pollution of groundwater occur, the Environment Agency can take enforcement action for an offence under regulation 38 of the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2010 and has powers under both regulation 57 of the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2010 and section 161 and 161A of the Water Resources Act 1991 to prevent or remedy pollution of groundwater caused by the actions of operators.

For public water supplies, the water companies have the responsibility for ensuring that drinking water supplied to the tap is of the appropriate quality. In the case of private drinking water supplies, these must be registered with and tested regularly by the local authority environmental health departments. If groundwater resources used for private supply are polluted by shale gas activities, in addition to the powers outlined above, the Environment Agency would also inform the local authority so that they can consider any action they might need to take.

Costs of decommissioning sites will vary on a site-by-site basis. My Department does not hold any information on the costs of decommissioning tracking sites in the UK.

We have had no such correspondence with local planning authorities on fracking and section 106 agreements.

The National Planning Policy Framework and its accompanying technical guide make it clear that, in exceptional circumstances, mineral planning authorities may seek a financial guarantee to cover restoration (including aftercare) costs at a time a planning permission is given. Such guarantees may be given, for instance, through a bond or section 106 agreement.

Schedule 5 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 gives minerals planning authorities the power to impose planning conditions on mineral operators to provide for site restoration and aftercare with their application for minerals extraction (including shale gas). This is to ensure clearance of equipment and for proper restoration of the site once operations have ceased. For sites that are to be returned to agriculture, forestry or amenity purposes, there is an obligation on the mineral operator to look after the site for a maximum period of five years once restoration has been completed. Planned restoration for other uses may require a separate planning permission.

The Government will consider the need for additional guidance as part of Lord Taylor of Goss Moor's review of existing planning practice guidance.

Arrangements and financing for decommissioning of operational sites is the responsibility of the industry. Planning guidance advises planning authorities to place appropriate conditions on any planning permission for oil and gas operations, both to ensure clearance of equipment and for proper restoration of the site once operations have ceased.

Specific requirements to ensure proper decommissioning of wells are enforced by the HSE and DECC. In addition, DECC is giving consideration to appropriate subsequent monitoring of decommissioned wells which should be agreed and put in place to ensure effective monitoring and management of decommissioned wells.

We expect all shale gas sites will require environmental permits covering a range of environmental risks, including radioactive and mining wastes and groundwater (if there is a groundwater risk). Operators will need to consider decommissioning as part of the standard conditions placed on them as part of their environmental permits. Permit surrender is not possible until sites have been returned to satisfactory conditions.