Energy: Self-sufficiency

Lord St John of Bletso Excerpts

Monday 15th October 2012 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, I refute the noble Lord’s point that we are not taking a robust approach. We are, but we also need to make sure that we are able to decommission safely and dispose of the decommissioning waste that we have.

[Lord St John of Bletso]

My Lords, can the Minister elaborate on the potential for the commercialisation of shale gas in the United Kingdom?

[Baroness Verma]

My Lords, we need to make the most of all our domestic energy resources, and exploitation of shale gas reserves is just one way we can do this. We must also ensure that any development is sensitive to community concerns and consistent with our carbon objectives.