Lee Rowley, who opposed shale gas exploration in his Derbyshire constituency, has been become a junior minister at the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS). He was appointed in the reshuffle, along with Greg Hands, the new energy and climate change minister.
Keep up with September 2021’s news with our digest of daily updated headlines about the business, regulation and campaigns around UK fracking, shale, and onshore oil and gas.
Labour’s bid to ban fracking in England was defeated in parliament this afternoon. The party’s amendment to the Environment Bill was rejected by 357 votes to 216.
Two Conservative MPs who opposed fracking in their constituencies have won their campaigns, the energy minister, Kwasi Kwarteng, told parliament tonight.
The potential cost to the public of decommissioning fracking sites is to be investigated by the government’s spending watchdog.
A parliamentary bill to limit earthquakes caused by fracking has passed its first stage unopposed today.
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.
Government proposals designed to speed-up fracking decisions are unclear, inappropriate and unjustified, a group of planning experts have said.
