The Storage of Carbon Dioxide (Licensing etc.) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015

General N.I.

Citation and commencement N.I.

1.  These Regulations may be cited as the Storage of Carbon Dioxide (Licensing etc.) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015, and come into operation on 4th January 2016.

Commencement Information

I1 Reg. 1 in operation at 4.1.2016, see reg. 1

Interpretation N.I.

2.—(1) The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954(1) applies to these Regulations as it applies to an Act of the Assembly.

(2) In these Regulations—

(a) any reference to a numbered section is to that section of the Energy Act 2008(2) and any reference to Chapter 3 is a reference to Chapter 3 of Part 1 of that Act; and

(b) any reference (except in paragraph (4)) to an EU instrument, or a provision of such an EU instrument, is to that instrument or provision as amended from time to time.

(3) In these Regulations—

“appraisal term” has the meaning given to it in regulation 4(a);

“the authority” means the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment as licensing authority under section 18(2);

“CO₂” means carbon dioxide;

“corrective measures plan” has the meaning given to it in regulation 8(6);

“the Directive” means Directive 2009/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 April 2009 on the geological storage of carbon dioxide and amending Council Directive 85/337/EEC, European Parliament and Council Directives 2000/60/EC, 2001/80/EC, 2004/35/EC, 2006/12/EC, 2008/1/EC and Regulation (EC) No 1013/2006(3);

“entering”, in relation to premises, includes, where applicable, boarding, and cognate expressions are to be construed accordingly;

“the Environmental Liability Directive” means Directive 2004/35/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 21 April 2004 on environmental liability with regard to the prevention and remedying of environmental damage(4);

“the ETS Directive” means Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 October 2003 establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community and amending Council Directive 96/61/EC(5);

“financial security” includes—

(a)

a charge over a bank account or any other asset;

(b)

a deposit of money;

(c)

a performance bond or guarantee;

(d)

an insurance policy;

(e)

a letter of credit;

“injection” means injection of CO₂ into a storage site;

“inspection” means an inspection of a storage complex for the purpose of discharging a function described in sub-paragraph (a) or (b) of regulation 16(1);

“inspection report” has the meaning given to it in regulation 17(1);

“inspector” means a person appointed by the authority under section 27(1);

“legislation” means legislation in force in the United Kingdom (whether passed, or made, before, after or at the same time as the commencement of these Regulations);

“licence” means a licence (other than a Northern Ireland exploration licence) granted by the authority under section 18(1) in respect of activities within section 17(2)(a) to (d), and “licence holder” is to be construed accordingly;

“licensed area” means the area within which activities are authorised under a licence;

“monitoring plan” has the meaning given to it in regulation 8(5);

“Northern Ireland exploration licence” means a licence granted by the authority under section 18(1) which authorises only activities within section 17(2)(c) and the establishment or maintenance of an installation in a controlled place for the purpose of such activities and which—

(a)

does not grant to the holder the sole right to carry out exploration of a controlled place, and

(b)

is issued in combination with –

(i)

a licence under section 2 of the Petroleum (Production) Act (Northern Ireland) 1964(6) to search for petroleum;

(ii)

a prospecting licence under section 11(1)(b) of the Mineral Development Act (Northern Ireland) 1969(7) to search for mines and minerals;

(iii)

a licence under section 3 of the Petroleum Act 1998(8) to search for petroleum; or

(iv)

a licence under section 4 to explore any controlled place with a view to carrying on activities within section 2(3)(a) to (d) and establish or maintain an installation in a controlled place for the purposes of such exploration;

“operator” means the person who carries on or (where different) controls activities (within the meaning of section 17(2)) at a storage site;

“post-closure plan” has the meaning given to it in regulation 13(3) or (4);

“premises” includes—

(a)

any carbon storage installation (within the meaning of section 30(5)); and

(b)

any land, vehicle, vessel, aircraft, hovercraft or moveable structure, excluding any such thing or part thereof that is used as a dwelling;

“provisional post-closure plan” has the meaning given to it in regulation 13(2);

“routine inspection” has the meaning given to it in regulation 15(1);

“storage permit” means a consent granted under a licence, authorising the use of a place as a storage site;

“target date” has the meaning given to it in regulation 11(3)(a).

(4) The following expressions have the meanings given by Article 3 of the Directive (and cognate expressions are to be construed accordingly)—

“closure” (in relation to a storage site);

“corrective measures”;

“CO₂ plume”;

“CO₂ stream”;

“exploration”;

“hydraulic unit”;

“leakage”;

“migration”;

“significant irregularity”;

“significant risk”;

“storage complex”;

“storage site”;

“substantial change”;

“waste”;

“water column”.

Commencement Information

I2 Reg. 2 in operation at 4.1.2016, see reg. 1

(1)

1954 c.33 (N.I.)

(2)

2008 c.32 as amended by S.I. 2011/2453

(3)

OJ No L 140, 5.6.2009, p 114, as amended by Directive 2011/92/EU (OJ No L26 28.1.2012. p.1) of the European Parliament and of the Council

(4)

OJ No L 143, 30.4.2004, p 56, as amended by Directives 2006/21/EC (OJ No L 102, 11.4.2006, p 15), 2009/31 EC (OJ No L 140, 5.6.2009, p 114) and 2013/30/EU (OJ No L 178, 28.6.2013, p 66) of the European Parliament and of the Council

(5)

OJ No L 275, 25.10.2003, p 32, as amended by Directives 2004/101/EC (OJ No L 338, 13.11.2004, p 18) and 2008/101/EC (OJ No L 8, 13.1.2009, p 3) of the European Parliament and of the Council, Regulation (EC) No 219/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ No L 87, 31.3.2009, p 109) Directive 2009/29/EC (OJ No L 140, 5.6.2009, p 63) of the European Parliament and Council and Regulation (EU) No 421/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ No L 129, 30.4.2014, p 1)

(6)

1964 c.28 (N.I.)

(7)

1969 c.35 (N.I.)

(8)

1998 c.17