Research On The Legal Issues Of Protection Of Water Resources In The Development Of Shale Gas

Recently, the increasing demand for energy, combined with support for newenergy exploration and development has contributed to the flourishing of shale gasindustry. The development of shale gas industry plays a paramount role both intacking national energy crisis and optimizing national energy structure. Therefore,exploring and developing shale gas has been the vital breakthrough in China’s newenergy strategy in recent years. However, chances are that the process of developingshale gas would lead to a number of natural disasters and environmental hazards suchas water pollution, noise pollution and even earthquakes. And it should be noted thatamong all the above mentioned negative consequences, water resources protection isof the greatest importance. This is primarily because during the development of shalegas, an enormous amount of water is used due to the employment of hydraulicfracturing technique, which in turn may result in water shortage and the pollution ofsurface water and groundwater. Consequently, it has become a necessity that duringthe development of shale gas, how the legal means would be resorted to in terms ofpreventing water pollution and notifying water conservation in advance.This thesis consists of five parts. The first part is an introduction, including theresearch background, significance and research status quo of this topic. The secondpart is "the exploitation of shale gas on water-related legislation to protect the statusquo and inadequate", focusing on the "Environmental Protection Law","Water Law","Water Pollution Prevention Law", the effectiveness and shortcoming of existinglegislation regarding shale gas activities in implementing the above laws. This partlays solid academic and practical foundation for the perfection of water resourcesprotection law in shale gas exploration, which will be discussed in the fourth part. Thethird part is "foreign shale gas in the status quo policies and regulations related towater resources and experience", analyzing the current status and experience of US,UK and Canada’s water resources protection policies in shale gas exploration,providing the perfection of China’s water resources protection law in shale gasexploration with precious foreign lessons. The fourth part is proposed to the perfection of water resources protection laws in shale gas exploration. And the fifthpart is the conclusion.This paper attempts to locate the shortcomings of China’s existing legislationregarding shale gas exploration activities by systematically analyzing "EnvironmentalProtection Law","Water Resources Protection Law","Water Pollution PreventionLaw" and other existing laws and regulations. Moreover, it attempts to advise on theperfection of the legislation of laws and regulations in terms of water resourcesprotection in shale gas exploration based on a detailed analysis of similar cases in theUnited States, Britain, Canada and other shale gas technology leader in the world,making contribution to protecting China’s water resources while developing shale gasin a sustainable way.