This article will be discussing the rules and regulation of shale gas. There are going to be four major topics that surround the issues of the rules and regulations regarding shale gas. Safeguards and loopholes, environmental assessments, monitoring and mitigating, and Canadian deregulation and international governance. These four issues will be the main focus of the article
Contents
Monitoring and mitigating
Monitoring and mitigating of shale gas is referring to making sure that there is no potential danger to the environment. There are several problems that can occur when focusing on shale gas (fracking). Air, land and water resource are usually the main issues when it comes to fracking and Shale Gas.
Air
NETL (National Energy Technology Laboratory) will monitor ambient air quality at the Washington County site using a mobile air quality monitoring laboratory. NETL also will conduct targeted on-site measurements of air emissions during well development and production activities and use collected data in atmospheric chemistry and transport models to further understanding of local and regional air quality impacts.
Completed - Almost eight months of pre-development air quality data were acquired at this location before the air monitoring laboratory was moved to the Greene County site in March 2012.
Planned - The mobile air quality monitoring laboratory will return to the Washington County site when construction at the location commences (timing depends on industry partner).
Land
The Australian Greens stand firmly on the side of Australian farmers. We want farmers to have a right to refuse access to mining and gas companies on their land. Currently, under state, territory and federal laws, most landholders have no right to refuse mining and gas companies access to explore and then later, mine or frack their land. The Greens are the only party to realise that supporting our farmers and protecting our prime agricultural land and water is vital for our future food security.
Water resources
Monitoring ground water is a major concern, there are many individuals that are clamming that their water is being contaminated from chemicals that are coming from hydraulic fracturing. A frequently expressed concern about shale gas development is that subsurface hydraulic fracturing operations in deep shale formations might create fractures that extend well beyond the target formation to water aquifers, allowing methane, contaminants naturally occurring in formation water, and fracturing fluids to migrate from the target formation into drinking water supplies.
Protecting water
Regulation of the Canadian oil and gas sector is designed to protect drinking water and water quality in our lakes and streams. The specific regulations vary between jurisdictions but in all cases, Canadian natural gas production always isolates and protects drinking water (groundwater) from natural gas operations.
In Alberta for example, regulation requires that natural gas development provide an extensive barrier (both vertically and laterally) between any shallow stimulation interval and existing water wells, in addition to isolating the aquifer and the fractured zone. Alberta has also increased the focus on water well education and standards in oil and gas producing areas.
Types of monitoring
Phased Environmental Impact Assessments- This is a process which New Brunswick oil, shale gas and natural gas companies are required to register for their projects before taking action. The process will identify potential environmental impacts at the early stages before a project is implemented so that negative environmental impacts can be avoided or reduced to an acceptable level.