GREATER action must be taken to protect Scotland’s marine environment and end our addition to fossil fuels, said WWF Scotland today.
The environmental group made the call following a newspaper report that serious spills of oil and gas – from oil and gas platforms off the coast of Scotland – are occurring at the rate of one a week. [1]
Says a spokesperson: “The news comes less than 24 hours after the UK Government handed oil and gas companies operating in the North Sea a tax break to kick-start new drilling.”
WWF Scotland’s director, Dr Richard Dixon, said:
“Oil and marine wildlife simply don’t mix. It’s deeply worrying to learn that the regulations are so lax that oil and gas leaks are taking place weekly off Scotland’s coastline.
“We urgently need to see increased protection for our climate and marine environment, rather than even more government incentives to help the industry squeeze every last drop of oil and gas from the North Sea.
“Scotland is ideally placed to move away from dirty and polluting fossil fuel industries to cleaner, greener renewables.
“The news should spur our politicians into speeding up action to end of our nation’s reliance on oil and gas and transform our economy into one that is 100 per cent renewable.”
Ends
NOTES TO EDITORS:
[1] Oil and gas spills in North Sea every week, papers reveal, The Guardian page 1
The paper says it has seen documents listing companies that have caused more than 100 potentially lethal and largely unpublicised leaks in 2009 and 2010.
Full article available here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/jul/05/oil-gas-spills-north-sea
MEDIA RELEASE posted by WWF Scotland. You too can post media releases (aka press releases) on allmediascotland.com. For more information, email here.
Contact: Mandy Carter
Phone: 01350 728226
Email: mcarter@wwfscotland.org.uk
Website: http://www.
