Responding to the latest developments in the North Sea, Greenpeace senior oil campaigner Vicky Wyatt said:
“The news that there’s now a second leak from the Shell platform will only heighten concerns over how this episode is being handled. While oil has been flowing, timely information has not. The original leak, now classified as significant, happened on Wednesday, but the news wasn’t made public for 48 hours, and now we’re learning of a second spill. As Shell finalises plans to move into the fragile Arctic, where oil spills are almost impossible to clean up, the company has important questions to answer. Meanwhile the government should halt its rush to hand out new licences for deep water drilling to the west of Shetland.”
Greenpeace is taking legal action in the courts to stop the government handing out over 20 new licences for oil companies to drill in the deep water to the west of Shetland. Greenpeace lawyers are arguing that the government cannot be certain that a spill in the area wouldn't devastate specially protected wildlife havens.
Greenpeace ran a campaign over the summer to force Edinburgh-based Cairn Energy to publish its plan for dealing with a spill in the Arctic, where it is currently drilling for oil. In an unprecedented move the company was refusing to publish the plan, but after months of pressure it relented last night. Greenpeace experts are now examining the 214 page plan and will publish its audit in the coming days. UK government documents state that it would be "near impossible" to clean up an Arctic spill:
http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/sites/files/gpuk/20110523112247050.pdf
