The Storage of Carbon Dioxide (Licensing etc.) Regulations 2010

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Storage of Carbon Dioxide (Licensing etc.) Regulations 2010, and come into force on 1st October 2010.

(2) In these Regulations—

(a)any reference to a numbered section is to that section of the Energy Act 2008;

(b)any reference to a provision contained in a Schedule includes a reference to a provision having identical legal effect to such a provision; and

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

(3) In these Regulations—

“appraisal term” has the meaning given by regulation 3(2)(a);

“the authority” (except in regulation 9) means the Secretary of State as licensing authority under section 18(2)(a) or section 18(2)(d) or both;

“CO₂” means carbon dioxide;

“corrective measures plan” has the meaning given by regulation 7(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(1);

“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(2);

“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(3);

“financial security” includes—

“general exploration licence” means any 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—

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

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

“licence” (except in regulation 9) means a licence (other than a general exploration licence) granted by the authority under section 18(1) in respect of—

(and “licence holder” is to be construed accordingly);

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

“monitoring plan” has the meaning given by regulation 7(5);

“operator”, in relation to a storage permit, means the person who carries on or (where different) controls activities at the storage site;

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

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

“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 by 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”.