The U.K. should set up a new regulator for shale gas to simplify rules governing projects after companies faced recent setbacks, according to a group funded by the industry.
“Speaking to local communities, we have been struck by how complex the regulatory framework appears, and how this leads to a lack of confidence in the system,” Chris Smith, chairman of the Task Force on Shale Gas group, said in its first report. “We believe the creation of a new, bespoke regulator for onshore underground energy would command more public confidence for ensuring proper monitoring and regulation.”
Scotland and Wales this year temporarily banned hydraulic fracturing -- which involves blasting water, sand and chemicals at high pressure to release gas within shale rock -- until they study environmental safeguards. While the U.K. Parliament rejected a similar moratorium, the government accepted opposition calls to ban fracking in national parks and beauty spots.
The U.K. will hold a general election in May.
“A new government in May should legislate to create the new regulator as soon as possible,” the group, which was set up in September, said in the report. The new regulator should create a “single, simplified system.”
No fracking has taken place since the U.K. lifted a moratorium in December 2012, even with companies such as IGas Energy Plc, Cuadrilla Resources Ltd. and Ineos Group lining up to tap the country’s shale for oil and gas.
Cuadrilla faced a setback in January when planners in Lancashire County Council recommended rejecting its applications to drill at two sites. A final decision was delayed until April after the company asked for an extension to address residents’ concerns about traffic and noise.
The industry group also proposed operators be allowed to produce risk assessment documents that are simpler than “a full environmental impact assessment, which can run to thousands of pages.”
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