Source: Angling Trust
The report, Are We Fit to Frack?, was launched today by the Angling Trust, the National Trust, RSPB, the Salmon & Trout Association, The Wildlife Trusts and the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust. It is supported by a cross party group of MPs including Zac Goldsmith, Alan Whitehead and Tessa Munt.
The report contains ten recommendations for making fracking safer as the Government continues its push to get companies to apply for licences to explore and drill for shale gas.
The recommendations are based on a full technical evidence report which has been peer reviewed by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, one of the UK’s leading ecological research institutes.
The countryside groups are calling for all protected wildlife areas, nature reserves and national parks to be frack-free zones, for full environmental assessments to be carried out for each drilling proposal, and for the shale gas industry to pay the costs of its regulation and any pollution clean-ups.
The report highlights a lack of regulation around shale gas exploitation which could cause serious impacts for a range of threatened species including salmon, trout and many other freshwater fish species. It also raises serious concerns about the impact of drilling and water contamination on some of our most precious natural habitats such as chalk streams. These crystal clear waterways are known to anglers and wildlife-lovers as England’s coral reefs – 85% of the world’s chalk streams are found here, and a large proportion of fracking sites are in chalk catchments.
Martin Salter, National Campaigns Coordinator for the Angling Trust said:
“A poor fracking operation has the potential to pollute groundwater supplies and to cause damage to fragile ecosystems in our chalk streams and other rivers. That is why we need the strongest possible regulatory framework, funded from the profits of the industry rather than from taxpayers’ pockets.”
Mark Lloyd, Chief Executive of the Angling Trust said:
“Fewer than a quarter of our rivers are currently in good ecological condition and the rest suffer from widespread pollution and over-abstraction. The Environment Agency is struggling to tackle these existing problems, and faces the prospect of losing 1,500 staff. Our wildlife and fisheries need another major risk to water quality and an additional demand for water like they need a hole in the head.”
The recommendations contained in the report are:
1. Avoid sensitive areas for wildlife and water resources by creating shale gas extraction exclusion zones.
2. Make Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) mandatory for shale gas extraction proposals.
3. Require shale extraction companies to pay for a world-class regulatory regime.
4. Prevent taxpayers from bearing the costs of accidental pollution.
5. Make water companies statutory consultees in the planning process.
6. Require all hydraulic fracturing operations to operate under a Groundwater Permit.
7. Make sure the Best Available Techniques (BAT) for mine waste management are rigorously defined and regularly reviewed.
8. Ensure full transparency of the shale gas industry and its environmental impact.
9. Ensure monitoring and testing of shale gas operations is rigorous and independent.
10. Minimise and monitor methane emissions.
A pdf copy of the report is available for download from the attachments section, at the top of the right hand column of this webpage.
