Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the cold venting of fugitive gasses is allowed to occur at hydraulic fracturing operations.

Management of fugitive emissions from shale well sites is regulated by the Environment Agency through the environmental permit. As part of the permit application, an operator will need to describe in their Environmental Risk Assessment, Waste Management Plan and in an Emissions Monitoring Plan how they will manage on-site fugitive emissions.

The environmental permits issued to date for sites that involve hydraulic fracturing only allow the venting of natural gas for safety reasons and when carrying out maintenance operations. Venting during routine operations is not permitted by the Environment Agency.

All environmental and waste permits in relation to Preston New Road can be found on the Environment Agency site: https://consult.environment-agency.gov.uk/onshore-oil-and-gas/information-on-cuadrillas-preston-new-road-site/.