Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, who will carry out the independent monitoring of proposed shale gas sites.

A research consortium led by British Geological Survey (BGS) is conducting a programme of environmental monitoring in Lancashire. Its work builds on existing national monitoring programmes for groundwater and seismicity by including air quality, surface-water quality, soil gases and ground motion. It represents the first independent integrated monitoring programme to characterise the environmental baseline before any shale gas operations begin.

If planning permission is granted and exploration goes ahead, the monitoring programme will continue during the different stages of operation.

More information is available on the BGS website:

http://www.bgs.ac.uk/research/groundwater/shaleGas/monitoring/lancashire.html.