DEMAND AN END TO NEW OIL AND GAS

BIG OIL'S REIGN IS COMING TO AN END

Big Oil is poisoning our ocean with daily spills and driving forward catastrophic climate change.

The government recently published its public consultation to end new oil and gas licences, but with little to no mention of the devastating impacts of the fossil fuel industry on our ocean. We must make sure UK seas are properly recognised in the energy transition, and that we end all new oil and gas - for good.

Will you help us send this message to the UK Government?

I’ll tell the government to end new oil AND gas

Sir or Madam

North Sea

Consultation Team

DESNZ, UK Government

Dear Consultation Team,

Please consider this email as my personal response to the government’s current consultation on Building the North Sea’s Energy Future.

My responses to specific questions are below. Overall, I urge you to use this pivotal moment of change to work across government to protect our seas from the devastating impacts of oil and gas exploration, production and use – as well as our climate.

Question 11

Ending new oil and gas licences is something I wholly support. It shows that the UK is a global leader in moving away from fossil fuels to protect the climate and the ocean. I welcome the government putting this commitment into practice.

However, the definitions of ‘new licences’ and ‘new fields’ need to be strengthened so we don’t ‘lock-in’ the many oil and gas projects currently in the exploration and development stage. Billions of barrels of oil and gas from new, undeveloped fields could still be extracted under the current proposals with damaging consequences to our seas, including the release of toxic chemicals, deafening noise from seismic surveys and damage to precious seabed habitats.

The definitions of new licences and fields should be adjusted so that projects that have a licence but not development consent are excluded from progressing further. A field that has a licence, but has not yet received a field development consent, is clearly a ‘new field’. Existing fields are those where extraction is already underway.

Question 13

I fully agree with the proposal to change the law to update the objective of the regulator so it no longer is focused on maximising oil and gas production. The new objectives should be explicit about the need for the regulator to help to drive down greenhouse gas emissions and production, and also safeguard the health of UK seas through the energy transition.

Question 14

Reform of the regulator is essential to properly serve the public, instead of industry, and must include more powers for assessing and sanctioning oil and gas companies for the damage they do. The existing enforcement of regulations to protect ocean life from ongoing oil spills and breaches of permits is woefully inadequate and puts unique and vulnerable ocean wildlife and marine protected areas at serious risk.

Kind regards,
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The full detailed consultation pack from government is available here.

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