The UK has no regulatory policy as fracking for gas is completely different from coal mining and conventional oil/gas wells.
The regulator (John Harrison, Environment Agency) was asked about the European groundwater directive, which forbids discharges of some chemicals to groundwater and is strongly restrictive on many others. Since this Directive supports the bans of fracking in France and parts of Germany, why is the EA in England and Wales not applying it similarly?
… one of the things we will take into consideration (John Harrison replied) when we have an applicant’s information on their permit application.
That sounds like - try it and see if there are any problems, rather than ban it until we know the groundwater will not be polluted (highly unlikely on US experience).
Though government tells us to rely on the EA to protect our environment, this exchange shows we and the VoG Council cannot do so.
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