Shale gas in Nottinghamshire how will they regulate fracking?

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1 Frack Free Notts July 2016 Shale gas in Nottinghamshire how will they regulate fracking? Regulatory system DECC (as was) promoting oil & gas and explaining why this won t cause climate change OGA licensing, hydraulic fracture plan, seismicity MPA planning: development and use of land EA environmental permitting HSE drilling plan PHE advice on threats to health

2 Oil & Gas Authority (OGA) Petroleum Exploration & Development Licences (PEDLs) oil & gas, conventional and unconventional Hydraulic Fracture Plan (required for any hydraulic fracturing) Seismicity micro earthquakes expected (<0.5) traffic light system will stop fracking if >0.5 Notts 270 conventional wells since WW2 Firm proposals to drill in Notts licences: IGas (1), Ineos (3), Egdon (1), Hutton (2 conventional)

3 Minerals Planning Authority (Notts County Council) Controls over development and use of land Assumes other regulators will operate effectively Planning framework National Planning Policy Framework (esp paras ) Planning Practice Guidance (Ref ID: ff) Minerals Local Plan, Local Plans, Neighbourhood Plans Planning applications EIA, Scoping, Validation, Consultation

4 Typical Planning Issues Highways Ecology Water Air Quality Visual/Landscape Noise & Vibration Geology Land Cultural Heritage Social Cumulative Impacts Public health

5 Environment Agency environmental permitting Mining waste Radioactive substances Groundwater Flaring/venting gases (>10t/day) maybe Abstraction Licence (to use groundwater) Discharge Consent Flood Risk Assessment Crude oil storage

6 Environment Agency - fracking Infrastructure Act definition of hydraulic fracturing (>1,000m3 or >10,000m3 total) not within SPZ1 (within 50m of water abstraction borehole) groundwater monitoring 12 months before monitor methane to air and publish results chemicals to be approved Will want to know where frac fluid is left underground (as it is mining waste disposal) Waste Management Plan Five facilities in England can take return frac fluid with radioactivity

7 Environment Agency - consultation Public consultation if hydraulic fracturing No consultation for standard processes: drilling with water-based mud drilling with oil-based mud NORM (naturally occurring radioactive material) accumulation and disposal leak-off tests [test frack] and acid wash (HCl) crude oil storage and handling

8 Health & Safety Executive Operators responsible for health & safety with independent well examiner providing quality control notifies HSE drill rig, safety equipment, geology, design of well, etc weekly reports to HSE HSE approves and audits well examination scheme Aim to prevent unplanned releases of fluids (liquid or gas) OGA/HSE/EA cooperation Permitting Consent to drill Hydraulic Fracturing Consent Extended Well Testing Consent COMAH (Control of Major Accident Hazards)

9 Department of Energy & Climate Change (now Dept of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy) Office of Unconventional Gas and Oil Sources quoted Royal Society/Royal Academy of Engineering Shale Gas Extraction in the UK, June 2012 Prof David MacKay & Dr Tim Stone Potential greenhouse gas emissions, September 2013 Institute of Directors Getting Shale Gas Working, May 2013 Ernst & Young Getting ready for UK shale gas, April 2014 Public Health England Review of potential public health impacts, June 2014 Hydraulic fracturing is safe and environmentally sound if operational best practice is enforced

10 Can the regulators cope? Regulators claim they can manage individual exploratory and appraisal wells But admit they don t yet have capacity to regulate large scale gasfield production Cuts in public expenditure LA planning cut 46% 2010/11 to 2014/15 EA cut 25% in real terms 2009/10 to 2013/14 HSE staff cut nearly 50% in last 10 years (from Medact 2016: Notes from the literature, paras ) No UK experience of high volume hydraulic fracturing Experience of hydrogeology limited to a few hundred metres down

11 Nottinghamshire Shale gas areas and Licences British Geological Survey Petroleum Exploration Development Licences: interactive map

12 Shale gas Widmerpool Trough

13 Shale gas - Gainsborough Trough

14 Section through Widmerpool and Gainsborough Troughs

15 New and existing licences Sherwood Forest area (December 2015)

16 New and existing licences North Notts (December 2015)

17 New and existing licences - South Nottinghamshire (August 2015)

18 Potential scale of shale gas production

19 Conventional and Unconventional scale of activity, geographical intensity, land take and spread are hugely different IOD 2013: 4,000 horizontal wells by 2032 to provide 1/3 UK gas Could be 100 to 400 wells per 10km x 10km square (6 miles x 6 miles), i.e. 10 to 30 well pads with horizontal wells from each pad.

20 Not easily compatible with other land uses Not easily compatible with other land uses agricultural, leisure, nature reserves, residential. Reductions in the quality of life get reflected in falling house prices. (By 7% according to a heavily redacted report of DEFRA that the government tried to suppress). As an area becomes less desirable people are prepared to pay less to live there. Insurance premiums are likely to rise.

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22 Ineos well density (from job advert 6/5/16)

23 Ineos well density

24 Ineos well trajectories

25 10 wellpads x 10 horizontal

26 Can regulation make fracking safe?

27 New York State bans fracking In June 2015, the State of New York banned high volume hydraulic fracturing. A thorough review concluded that regulation could not make fracking safe, with particular concerns about: Wastewater disposal Seismic uncertainty (likely to be unknown fault lines) Impact on wildlife habitats Increased ozone levels Cumulative impact on communities (These are residual concerns after considering measures to reduce adverse environmental and public health impacts)

28 Defra report on rural impacts A draft review by Defra of Shale Gas Rural Economy Impacts dated March 2014 (released in July 2015) suggested: Increased congestion on roads Potential human health consequences Industrialisation of quiet regions Fall in house prices Increase in noise

29 Health Compendium An updated compendium of health effects was published in October 2015: Regulations not capable of preventing harm Fracking threatens drinking water Toxic air pollution e.g. BTEX and ozone Public health problems, including occupational health Earthquakes caused by wastewater re-injection Serious exposure risks from compressor stations & dust Naturally occurring radioactive materials Economic uncertainties exacerbate public health risks (Concerned Health Professionals of New York, October 2015)

30 Frack Free Notts