Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of noise levels at the Preston New Road Shale Gas site since the commencement of (a) exploratory drilling and (b) exploratory fracturing.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Lancashire Country Council and the Environment Agency are jointly responsible for noise level assessments under planning conditions and environmental permit conditions.
Flaring operations are currently the only activity regulated under an environmental permit that noise could be attributed to. The Environment Agency carefully considered emissions from noise and vibrations during its environmental permit determination and concluded that they are not an issue due to the design of the flare, the location of the site, and the level of background noise.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment the Environment Agency has made of the level of compliance by Cuadrilla Resources with relevant environmental restrictions at its shale gas site at Preston New Road.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Environment Agency has been carrying out regular inspections, audits and unannounced spot checks to ensure that Cuadrilla is compliant with the legally binding conditions in the environmental permit.
Cuadrilla had a small number of non-compliances with their environmental permit in 2017, mostly for procedural matters. This is not uncommon for industrial sites after site inspections and audits. In these instances the Environment Agency has provided advice and guidance to ensure full compliance with the permits. In response Cuadrilla has implemented the required improvements. So far in 2018, no permit non-compliances have been recorded.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the potential air quality effects of shale gas extraction since the completion of the Air Quality Expert Group report n that subject in 2015.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The report, “Potential Air Quality Impacts of Shale Gas Extraction in the UK”, prepared by the Air Quality Expert Group (AQEG) was published on 27 July and no further assessment of air quality impacts from this activity has been carried out.
However, in line with the AQEG recommendations, the Environment Agency (EA) continues to monitor air quality around identified exploration sites before, during and after activities and they provide strict guidance that operators must adhere to.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the waste water disposal system at the Preston New Road Shale Gas site.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Environmental permits issued by the Environment Agency set legally binding conditions. The permit at Preston New Road allows for hydraulic fracturing fluid that returns to the surface, known as flowback fluid, to be reused and recycled onsite in the process. Flowback fluid that cannot be recycled will become waste, and must be taken offsite for treatment at appropriately licensed waste water treatment facilities.
Waste flowback is not expected to be produced at the site until further into the fracturing programme. At that time the Environment Agency plan to carry out a full audit of flowback storage, sampling and disposal.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department has taken to monitor emissions from shale gas sites once they have been decommissioned.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Environment Agency requires monitoring of the environmental conditions at shale gas sites before operations can start in accordance with the environmental permit granted. This provides a valuable evidence base to compare against monitoring results taken during and after operations. The type and period of monitoring required after decommissioning is determined on a site by site basis. It will depend on the risks associated with the type and scale of activities at a particular site, together with the local environmental setting.
The Environment Agency will not allow an operator to surrender their permit until it is satisfied that the well has been decommissioned in line with the Health and Safety Executive's requirements and either no pollution has occurred at a site, or if it has, that the site has been returned to its original condition.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much the Environment Agency has spent on navigable waterways in Lancashire in each of the last five years.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Environment Agency does not have navigation responsibility for any of the rivers or canals in Lancashire and has no plans to invest in those waterways.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much the Environment Agency plans to spend on navigable waterways in Lancashire in each of the next three years.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Environment Agency does not have navigation responsibility for any of the rivers or canals in Lancashire and has no plans to invest in those waterways.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many groundwater activity permits have been issued in (a) Fylde constituency and (b) England in each of the last five years.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Environment Agency has issued the following number of groundwater activity permits in each of the last five years in:
Fylde constituency
Year | Groundwater activity permits |
2013 | 0 |
2014 | 0 |
2015 | 0 |
2016 | 0 |
2017 (year to date) | 2 |
England
(This includes water discharge activity permits and groundwater activity permits, the numbers of which are not separately recorded for England)
Year | Water discharge activity and groundwater activity permits |
2013 | 724 |
2014 | 703 |
2015 | 624 |
2016 | 832 |
2017 (year to date) | 755 |
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent progress he has made on improving the cleanliness of Lancashire’s rivers.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
The Environment Agency (EA) is responsible for the health of England’s rivers, including the monitoring of the river network for the quality of the water chemistry and ecology. 54% of Lancashire’s rivers are now of good status or higher with 143km of rivers enhanced since January 2016. The EA is investing a total of £801,000 this year in projects across Lancashire which directly or indirectly relate to water quality improvement in rivers and estuaries.
The Water Industry National Environment Programme (WINEP) for the period 2015–2020 includes a number of requirements for the water company to improve sewage discharges so that the water quality in Lancashire’s rivers is improved.
The EA is working with Natural England to support farmers in protecting and improving watercourses through the Catchment Sensitive Farming scheme. The EA is also contributing to river enhancements through catchment partnerships, such as the Ribble Rivers Trust.
Recently improved water quality has meant salmon and sea trout are now reaching the upper reaches of the River Calder in east Lancashire, where they were previously absent due to poor water quality and in-river barriers. Improved river water quality is also a significant factor in the improvement of the coastal bathing waters, with all ten designated beaches in Lancashire now of good or excellent status.
Asked by: Mark Menzies (Independent - Fylde)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps the Environment Agency is taking to replenish fish stocks in Lancashire.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
During the last two months the Environment Agency has stocked a number of Lancashire rivers with 19,000 coarse fish from the Environment Agency’s fish farm at Calverton, as follows: