Offshore oil and gas: EU Parliament make clear that environment matters

Environment Committee supports amendments to strengthen EU supervision and strict protection of the Arctic.

Press Release Date: September 20, 2012

Location: Madrid

Contact:

Marta Madina | email: mmadina@oceana.org | tel.: Marta Madina

Oceana welcomes the EU Parliament Environment Committee’s adoption of its opinion on the Safety of offshore oil and gas activities file. Their report, which was voted on yesterday in Brussels, introduced several key elements long advocated for by Oceana, such as the involvement of the European Safety and Maritime Agency in oversight of offshore hydrocarbon activities, strict financial guarantees to cover the costs of a clean-up if accidents occur, the criminalization of negligent behavior, a genuine possibility to establish a moratorium in the Arctic, and increased transparency and access to justice for the public and civil society. As a last step, and pending the vote in others Committees, the text will now move to the Plenary where the final vote will be taken in early December.

The adoption of this report is great news for EU citizens, as the environmental arm of the Parliament rightfully re-balanced this legislative proposal in the right direction stated Xavier Pastor, Executive Direction of Oceana Europe. Whereas the initial proposal clearly suited the interests of the oil industry, the vote now signals to the wider Parliament that strict environmental consideration cannot be ignored when it comes to this risky and dirty business.

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