St. Kilda - under threat from oil exploration
Greenpeace's QC today branded the Government's main legal argument
as a breach of the organisation's human rights and an abuse of the legal
process. The Government is arguing that Greenpeace delayed in applying
for a judicial review of oil licensing on the Atlantic Frontier and that
Greenpeace should have made its application sometime over the last five
years.
If that is correct it could mean that no person or organisation -
including Greenpeace - would ever be able to challenge any Government
decision on offshore oil and gas exploration, or any other offshore
activity to which the Habitats Directive applies, whatever the merits of
the case.
But what Greenpeace has done has presented new evidence on threats to
whales and dolphins and coral reefs in the Atlantic Frontier. And what
the Government is really saying is that even if we showed the Government
a deafened whale or a destroyed coral reef that we wouldn't have any
right to challenge them under the Habitats Directive.
The Island of St Kilda
