Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what steps she plans to take to protect people in Barnsley from potential harmful environmental effects of fracking.

The Government has been clear that shale development must be safe and environmentally sound. We are already have one of the most robust regulatory regimes in the world for shale gas. We insist on high standards of health safety and environmental protection. All of this is backed up by independent checks from the regulators.

We have been successfully regulating for gas and oil drilling for over 50 years and have tough regulations in place to ensure on-site safety, prevent water contamination, mitigate seismic activity and air pollution. Through the Infrastructure Act 2015, we are putting in place a range of further measures to provide the public with confidence that this industry is being taken forward in a balanced way, including measures on environmental impact assessments, groundwater monitoring and community benefits.