Llandow Fracking Inquiry 22-23 May

Friends of the Earth were well represented, with a statement from FoE Cymru's Director, Gareth Clubb and written plus verbal statements from Barry & Vale FoE - see Fracking Inquiry page.  Coastal Oil & Gas and the Vale Council discussed it as simply a test drilling operation, with CO&G claiming they were seeking ordinary coal-measure gas with no intentions for high-pressure fracking. They convinced no-one.  FoE argued the test drilling was part of a staged application for fracking and therefore needs full environmental impact assessment.  The Council had failed to 'screen' it for EIA, despite the Minister mentioning this in his letter declining to call-in the proposal.

FoE quoted the First Minister's letter of 29 Sept. to the Vale Council:

•  A “precautionary approach should be taken” and “additional environmental considerations” should be included. It referred to Minerals Planning Policy Wales (MPPW) which specifies “an environmentally acceptable way” of operation and being “consistent with the principles of sustainable development” for unconventional gas development.

The Vale Council officers had ignored this at the Planning Committee and did not argue for any 'additional' environmental precautions at this Inquiry.

There was a lengthy exchange about a Condition to be set on noise levels if the application was permitted. The Inspector first proposed noise guidance levels used for opencast mining and quarrying. FoE said no - to use the policy for industrial areas close to homes, with non-disturbing night-time levels in accord with WHO guidance.  The Vale officers failed to support FoE's approach, even though this was used at the Sunrise wood-burner inquiry.  So the issue is left to the Inspector's decision.  Whose side are the Vale officers on?

No trust for Regulation of Fracking

At the VoG Scrutiny committee on Monday 17th Oct., one contributor declared:

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.