The Labour party are looking to table amendments to the Infrastructure Bill, including the tightening of rules for companies drilling for shale gas.
Caroline Flint, the Shadow Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change has stated that Labour "will continue to push for the environmental framework to be strengthened, and for assurances that the responsibility for clean-up costs and liability for any untoward consequences rests fairly and squarely with the industry, not with taxpayers or homeowners."
The party consider the rules covering fracking to be too lax and hope to strengthen the Regulations for fracking by tabling a number of amendments to the Infrastructure Bill in the House of Lords.
Changes which the opposition hope to be made include well-by-well disclosure of the fracking fluid being pumped into the well, baseline monitoring of methane levels in the groundwater and environmental impact assessments for all fracking sites.
There is much controversy surrounding the Infrastructure Bill with many differing opinions. Tom Greatrex, the shadow energy minister, agrees that current agreements do not go far enough.
However, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) seem to feel that the safeguards covering drilling for shale gas under existing rules are sufficient.
There has been a great worry amongst the general public which has led to protesting, in spite of the need for new energy supplies.
Greatrex has gone as far as to say that "shale gas extraction must only be permitted to happen in the UK with robust regulation and comprehensive monitoring. Too often, David Cameron's Government has ignored genuine and legitimate environmental concerns in pursuit of a rhetoric-led policy".
It is however difficult to argue with figures given by the National Grid, which looks after the pipes and pylons in England and Wales. They believe that if the correct policies were put in place as much as a third of Britain’s gas could come from its own shale by the early 2030s.
