House of Lords Recommends UK PM to Streamline Shale Regulation

The House of Lords recommended the British Prime Minister David Cameron to streamline and improve the existing regulation to make it more effective and rigorous.

‘The Government should take the lead in setting out the economic benefits of shale and in reassuring the public that with proper regulation environmental and health risks of developing it are low,’ reads the note released on Thursday.

The House of Lords called on the government to ‘do much more to encourage exploration and get development moving.’ Recognizing that shale gas is not the answer to all UK’s energy security problems, the 102-page report claimed that substantial economic benefits would flow from successful development. 

‘It would reduce imports and help maintain security of supply. This would be especially valuable given the continuing fall in output from the North Sea and Europe’s reliance on Russia, its biggest gas supplier, highlighted by the crisis in Ukraine,’ reads the report.

As said in other articles, British politicians are trying to capitalize on the standoff over Ukraine to push the shale gas industry to the next level.

‘Since the lifting in 2012 of a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, we understand (May 2014) that the Environment Agency has not received or approved any applications for the necessary permits. There is no reason why effective regulation should not be transparent and speedy as well as rigorous. Delay is not only costly and wasteful, it can also drive investors elsewhere. 

Some analysts, consultants and politicians welcomed the report.

“Developing a shale gas industry in the UK has the potential to inject £33bn worth of investment into the economy and create over 64,000 new jobs. However, the lack of a clear framework standardising and simplifying the approach towards shale gas exploration is making it difficult for investors and developers to see where they fit in,” Chris Lewis, Partner, EY Advisory services said in an emailed note.

On the other hand, environmentalists raised some serious doubts. 

‘A Lords committee which is calling for fracking to be made an urgent national priority includes at least five members with interests in the global industry - according to an Energydesk analysis of parliamentary registers,’ wrote Greenpeace on its website.