| Response – North Sea oil spill |
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16 August 2011 | Read the response The oil spill in the North Sea from a Royal Dutch Shell pipeline is the biggest in British waters for a decade. Susie Wilks, lawyer at environmental law organisation ClientEarth, said: “In January the House of Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee agreed with ClientEarth’s evidence that oil spill liability and compensation systems in UK waters are grossly inadequate. If the Shell spill harms the environment, the damage could go unresolved and the costs could be landed on the taxpayer. “This spill is much smaller than last year's BP disaster, but it goes to show that accidents can and do happen even in the "gold-plated" safety environment of the North Sea that the UK government has been so quick to defend. UK offshore regulation is relatively well developed, but there's no room for complacency. One way to address this is having laws to ensure that all environmental damage is paid for by those responsible for causing it, and the UK needs to work with the EU to make this happen."Susie Wilks gave evidence to the House of Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee in October 2010. Read their response to the evidence here: UK Deepwater Drilling—Implications of the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill [pages 24 – 26]. ENDS |
