Ten oil companies today attempted to strip European citizens of the right to enforce powerful wildlife laws when their lawyers argued in the High Court that Greenpeace cannot make the Government enforce the European Union Habitats Directive.
The argument focuses on Greenpeace's judicial review of the UK Government's decision to only apply the Habitats Directive up to twelve nautical miles from the shore even though the UK claims mineral rights up to 200 nautical miles from land. The oil companies (including Texaco, Esso, Mobil and Marathon Oil), who have joined with the Government in opposing Greenpeace in court, are arguing that Greenpeace has no right to take the case because it has no legitimate or "personal" interest in the Habitats Directive.
Sarah Burton, Campaigns Director at Greenpeace, said: "If the oil companies win this argument it will be a tragedy for the environment. It would be ridiculous if only the European Commission and governments could go to court since Tony Blair is hardly likely to legally challenge himself and you don't see many whales in the High Court."
Phil Rothwell, Head of Policy Operations for the RSPB, said: "Any ruling that environmental groups could not challenge the Government over the implementation of European environmental law would cause major problems for the RSPB and many other UK conservation groups. The citizens of Europe care passionately about their wildlife and must be free to challenge governments in court if they fail to properly apply the law."
The 10 oil companies' legal argument centres around the principle of "direct effect" and the fact that the Habitats Directive and Birds Directive do not affect individual rights. This has allowed the oil companies to argue that nobody has a direct legal stake in the implementation of the directives except the European Commission and EU states. The oil companies argue that even organisations explicitly dedicated to the protection of wildlife do not have the right to go to court to protect the species that they care about.
Sarah Burton continued: "If Greenpeace is denied the right to take this case, we will give free membership to every whale and dolphin in the north east Atlantic, and argue that we represent the entire cetacean nation of the Atlantic Frontier - it would be no more ludicrous than allowing these oil companies to strip European citizens of their basic rights. If the public cannot challenge governments over failure to implement European wildlife law the entire legal structure of the European Union will have been undermined."
Notes to editors:
[1] The oil companies opposing the Greenpeace case are:
Texaco
Conoco Ltd
Esso UK
Statoil
Marathon Oil
UK Philips Petroleum Company UK
Mobil North Sea
Elf Exploration
Enterprise Oil
British Gas Exploration and Production
Further information:
Contact:
Greenpeace press office on 020 7865 8255
