Fracking

(asked on 28th January 2015) - View Source

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what national standards apply for the baseline monitoring of air quality for hydraulic fracturing developments.


Answered by
 Portrait
Dan Rogerson
This question was answered on 3rd February 2015

Baseline monitoring of air quality must be undertaken in line with the Environment Agency’s guidance on air quality: the M8 Monitoring of Ambient Air Guidance and the H1 Environmental Risk Assessment Guidance, which includes considering the local air quality situation at the relevant location.

The Environment Agency will assess the adequacy of baseline air monitoring at hydraulic fracturing sites, including the proposed length of monitoring time, against this guidance when it considers the Environmental Management and Monitoring Plans (which include a baseline air quality study) that operators must submit as a Pre-Operational condition.

The Environment Agency adopts a risk-based approach to its assessment, taking into account the specific characteristics of each site and will require baseline monitoring of air quality for the length of time that it deems suitable for each given site. There is no ‘one’ length of time that is applied universally.

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