oil

Responding to the news that the Government would not appeal the recent High Court judgement in Greenpeace's favour on the extent of the EU Habitat's Directive, Greenpeace climate campaigner Matthew Spencer said: "This is great news -We hope the Government will now implement the Directive fully. This means putting the needs of wildlife before the needs of oil exploration. Greenpeace can now confirm that we will invest any money that we receive from the Government in legal costs in renewable energy projects in Scotland."

The Government was defeated in court today (5th November 1999) in a landmark legal ruling which protects coral reefs and whales and dolphins in Britain's North East Atlantic. Mr Justice Kay ruled that all future offshore oil licensing is illegal until the Government properly applies the EU Habitats Directive.
Justice Kay told the court that the Government had "clearly" not applied the Habitats Directive in initiating the next round of oil licensing in the North East Atlantic.

Oslo, 22 October 1999 - Greenpeace today welcomed Phillips Norway's proposal to decommission onshore, all fourteen steel oil platforms from the North Sea "Ekofisk I" field, as a significant step that will boost the development of the onshore decommissioning industry. Today Phillips Norway released their proposal for the disposal of the "Ekofisk I" offshore field, by far the largest upcoming decommissioning project in the North Sea. Over the next few years, fourteen steel platforms and one concrete offshore installation will be decomissioned and have to be dismantled.

October 21st, 1999 - Greenpeace today joined Inupiat Eskimos living on Alaska's North Slope to file a lawsuit to challenge BP Amoco's drilling for oil in the Arctic Ocean off Alaska's north coast. The lawsuit challenges the US Federal Government for permitting the project on the grounds that it lacks an adequate oil spill plan and jeopardizes the marine and coastal environment of the Arctic Ocean, and the Inupiat subsistence way of life.

Mr Justice Kay has indicated he will give his verdict within three weeks on Greenpeace's case against the Government for failure to apply the EC Habitats Directive to oil exploration in the Atlantic Frontier.

The case ended Thursday afternoon after Mr Justice Kay heard all the arguments from Greenpeace, the Government and the 10 oil companies. The QC representing the oil companies asked the judge to refer the case to Europe if he found in Greenpeace's favour on certain matters.

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.

Greenpeace's QC today branded the Government's main legal argument a breach of the organisation's human rights and an abuse of the legal process. The Government argues that Greenpeace delayed in applying for a judicial review of its oil licensing on the Atlantic Frontier and that Greenpeace should have made its application sometime over the last five years.

The Government has conceded that oil and gas exploration in the Britain's North East Atlantic - the Atlantic Frontier - may harm whales and dolphins. The admission came in the High Court today where Greenpeace is taking the Government to court for failing to apply wildlife protection law up to 200 nautical miles from the coast.