EC questions Polish 2013 liberalization of the shale gas exploitation laws

The European Commission has commenced an investigation against Poland for 2013 liberalization of the shale gas exploitation laws, the Polish daily Puls Biznesu reported July 31.

“The official EC letter notifying about the investigation was received a few days ago,” said Pawel Mikusek, a spokesperson of the Polish Ministry of Environment, as cited by the daily. “Poland has two months to prepare its official stand on the matter.”

In the letter, EC stated that through 2013 liberalization of the Polish shale gas exploitation laws, Poland breached EU directive on the basis of carrying our environmental impact assessments.

“The risk connected with lack of compliance with the EU directive on the basis of carrying our environmental impact assessments was already pointed out to law makers last year,” said EY manager Aleksander Gabrys, as cited by Puls Biznesu.

The EU demands environmental impact assessments on all exploratory drilling. While Poland’s decision to limit the need for environmental impact assessments was seen as a nod to the shale gas industry, it has proven potentially highly problematic according to local experts.

“To set a 5,000 meters depth mark for drills, when 99 percent of all drills in Poland is much shallower, was very risky from a legal point of view,” Gabrys added, as cited by the daily.

The 2013 liberalization of the Polish shale gas exploitation legislation aimed at acceleration of the exploration of shale gas in Poland, which is going very slowly. To date only a little more than 60 drills has been completed, while the need is for hundreds more.

“We’ve been supporting the 2013 liberalization of the shale gas exploitation laws,” said Marcin Zieba, a director of the Polish Exploration and Production Industry Organization, as cited by the daily. “Now, we will support the Ministry of Environment during proceedings before the EC.”

Photo courtesy of Ruhrfisch.