UK Govt Slammed For Authorising Drilling

UK Government Slammed For Giving Go-Head To First Deep Water Drilling Since BP Disaster

Greenpeace plans legal action

London, 1st October 2010 - Greenpeace condemned a UK government decision made late last night to grant the first consent for deep water oil drilling in UK waters since the Gulf of Mexico oil as bizarre. Greenpeace is preparing to take legal action to prevent further permits being awarded.

Greenpeace UK Executive Director John Sauven said:

“A government claiming to be the greenest ever should be taking us beyond oil, but instead Chris Huhne is opening the door for the oil industry and inviting it to drill in ever more dangerous and difficult to reach places.

“It’s irresponsible for the government to give the green light for deep water drilling when it’s clearly not learned the lessons from the BP oil disaster”

Chevron already has a drilling ship, the Stena Carron, in the area in anticipation of being given the go ahead to drill. It is now expected to begin exploratory oil drilling in the remote Lagavulin site. This delicate ecosystem, which is home to dolphins and many other species, would be devastated by an oil spill.

Laughably, the company claims the affects of a spill on whales and dolphins is not something to worry about because "whilst a number of marine mammals may be present in the area, given their good swimming abilities, relative intelligence and nomadic behaviour, some avoidance behaviour could be expected." Documents released to Greenpeace also reveal that Chevron intends to use the same sub-contractors to manage the concrete operations and design the blow out preventer for Lagavulin that were used by BP on the Deepwater Horizon. Greenpeace has asked the UK Government and Chevron for the Spill Response Plan for Lagavulin, but they have so far not made it public.

Sauven added:

“Without waiting to learn the lessons from the Gulf Of Mexico and without waiting for public and expert opinion, Chris Huhne has made the bizarre decision that there is a low risk of harm from Chevron’s deep sea drilling and there is no need for an environmental assessment of its affects.”

On Tuesday, Chevron lawyers succeeded in getting a legal ‘interdict’ at the Court of Session in Edinburgh, finally stopping campaigners from the Greenpeace ship Esperanza, putting swimmers in front of its drill ship.

The Greenpeace swimmers swam out in front of the moving ship on Sunday morning, forcing the 228-metre long Stena Carron to stop 9 miles short of the site where it intends to drill an exploratory oil well in deep water. The campaigners then took turns to stop the huge ship from moving.

Last week Chevron used an identical tactic to force the campaigners to remove an 8ft diameter survival pod from the anchor chain of the drill ship, preventing it leaving Shetland for four days.

Greenpeace is now preparing legal action against the Cameron government in an effort to stop the granting of new permits for deep water drilling, which could stop hundreds of new wells being sunk. Last month Greenpeace lawyers wrote a ‘letter before action’ to ministers the precursor to seeking a judicial review of the decision to push ahead with new deep water drilling before the lessons from the BP disaster have been learned. Permits are granted by Lib Dem Energy Secretary Chris Huhne.

ENDS

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