Auto Amazon Links: No products found. Blocked by captcha.
The UK’s biggest untapped oilfield, Rosebank off Shetland, was approved unlawfully, the government has admitted in court. Climate campaigners brought a case against Rosebank and the Jackdaw gas field in the North Sea. The UK Supreme Court ruled in another case that both greenhouse gas emissions and emissions caused by the process of extracting oil and gas must be included in an environmental impact assessment. As part of the consenting process, the government should have considered environmental impact assessments about the fields. However, these assessments did not include the effects on the climate of the eventual combustion of oil and gas.
Greenpeace and Uplift are arguing that work on Rosebank and Jackdaw should be paused while fuller environmental impact assessments are carried out. If the judge, Lord Ericht, agrees, Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour government may end up with the final say on whether drilling should go ahead. The firms involved, including Shell, Equinor and Ithaca Energy, say they should be allowed to carry out drilling because permission was granted in good faith under the law as it was understood at the time.
Shell, Equinor and Ithaca Energy claim they acted lawfully in relying on the government’s consent and should not be punished for doing so. Shell said that any temporary pause and resumption of works would not be straightforward and appeared to suggest that it would amount to the Jackdaw project being brought to a permanent end. Shell accepted the existence of climate change, that greenhouse gas emissions contribute to climate change, and that urgent action is needed to tackle it. However, they also claimed that the question whether, how and to what extent any individual project contributes to climate change is a complex one.
The firms involved were given the green light for Rosebank and Jackdaw by the previous Conservative administration. However, Rosebank was approved and Jackdaw on the understanding that environmental impact assessments were adequate. Lord Ericht is not expected to issue his judgment for some weeks or months, and the hearing will continue on Tuesday
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More
Auto Amazon Links: No products found. Blocked by captcha.