UK Shale Task Force Recommends More Transparency, Institutionalisation

The UK’s Task Force on Shale Gas recommends that the content of the additives being used across shale gas operations should be made public. The organisation launched in September 2014 also said that the Government should better define the responsibility for the continued monitoring and documentation of sealed-off sites. 

“We highlight four essential ingredients for safe operation: full disclosure of chemicals; baseline monitoring from the outset; strong well integrity, independently regulated; and ‘green completions’ to contain the gas that’s created and minimise emissions” Lord Chris Smith, chair of the Task Force on Shale Gas said. 

He basically explained that rigorous regulation and monitoring are needed for shale gas to be safe for local communities and the environment.

MORE TRANSPARENCY, MORE INSTITUTIONALISATION  

‘The Task Force notes that DECC is currently looking into this matter and we would encourage them to publish an approach as early as possible, in order to reassure the public. As outlined above, the Task Force believes that the Coal Authority could take on this important role of overseeing historic wells’ reads the organisation’s second report on the impact of a fracking industry on the UK.

The Task Force also recommended to establish baseline monitoring of groundwater, air and soil at the moment a potential site is identified, with community representatives given an oversight role in monitoring and all results made public. 

‘Current planning regulations that require full planning consent before boreholes can be drilled for monitoring should be changed’ the organisation wrote.  

It also argued that many of the problems associated with shale gas in the United States are results of poor practices, rather than the mere consequence of the fracking process.  

‘The process of ‘green completions’ – whereby fugitive methane emissions are minimised on site – should be mandatory for production wells’ the Task Force on Shale Gas said, adding that the disposal of wastewater by deep injection should be avoided in the United Kingdom.

Finally, a new institution should be established.

‘A National Advisory Committee should be established to monitor data from shale gas operations if and when they are established in the United Kingdom to provide an independent analysis of actual and potential impacts on public health to both policymakers and the public.’