Environmental permitting regulations – anaerobic digestion and carbon capture and storage

Defra is consulting on proposals to amend the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010 (EP Regulations) to:

• facilitate the development of anaerobic digestion (AD) plants
• implement part of EU Directive 2009/31 on carbon capture and storage (CCS)
• avoid double regulation of offshore CCS activities.

The consultation closes on 26 November 2010. The regulations are expected to come into force on 6 April 2011.

Who will the environmental permitting proposals affect?

The proposals will affect:

• operators of current or proposed AD plants
• operators who may be considering developing CCS facilities
• regulators such as the Environment Agency and local authorities
• others with an interest in environmental permitting and compliance, such as individuals living near permitted facilities.

What are the proposed changes for anaerobic digestion?

The proposed regulations will amend the EP Regulations to remove the following AD activities from Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC) Directive requirements:

• Gas production at AD plants treating biodegradable waste, where there is no combustion of the gas at the plant itself. This activity will still be regulated by the Environment Agency as a waste operation that needs an environmental permit.
• Gas combustion at AD plants in appliances with a rated thermal input of less than 50 megawatts. This activity will still be regulated by the Environment Agency as a waste operation. It may also be regulated by your local authority as a Part B activity if you burn fuel in a boiler, furnace, gas turbine or compression ignition engine with a net rated thermal input of between 20 and 49 megawatts.

Moving from an IPPC activity to a waste operation may seem to be removing regulation. In practice, there is no major change in the way these activities are regulated. The changes are primarily administrative.

What are the proposed changes for carbon capture and storage?

The proposed regulations will amend the EP Regulations to:

• make CCS from IPPC installations a listed activity subject to IPPC requirements in its own right, ie separately to the IPPC installation
• make an additional exception to the prohibition of direct discharge of pollutants into groundwater by allowing carbon dioxide streams to be injected into geological formations for CCS
• avoid double regulation of offshore CCS activities by the EP Regulations and the Offshore Combustion Installations (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Regulations 2001, by requiring a permit under the latter regulations only.