Reporting of the politics at national and local level of the shale gas and fracking debate
The risk of earthquakes from well operations such as acidisation, water reinjection and pressure release should be controlled in the same way as fracking, a parliamentary meeting heard today.
This post has live updates from the parliamentary debate on government proposals to fast track fracking plans.
Government proposals to relax the planning rules for shale gas sites are due to be discussed for the first time in the chamber of the House of Commons.
Owners of fracking sites may be liable for the clean-up if project backers go out of business, MPs said in a report published today.
The Scottish government has delayed its decision on whether to ban fracking.
A parliamentary bill to limit earthquakes caused by fracking has passed its first stage unopposed today.
The regulation and impact of induced earth tremors accounted for more than a third of the parliamentary answers about fracking from the energy minister this week.
A Conservative MP from a constituency with an Ineos shale gas site is seeking to introduce legislation to stop fracking companies causing earthquakes.
A Conservative MP said this evening he was disappointed with the response of senior civil servants to his questions on the decommissioning of shale gas wells.
The government’s new shale regulator, announced last spring, has three members of staff, at a cost of £75,000, operates “virtually” and has no powers, the energy minister has said.
DRILL OR DROP? 