Better off in the USA2 Feb 2025 21:28
This country has gone mad…
A court has ruled that consent for two new Scottish oil and gas fields was granted unlawfully and their owners must seek fresh approval from the UK government before production can begin.
The written judgement on the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields came after a case brought by environmental campaigners, Uplift and Greenpeace, at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.
In his judgement, Lord Ericht said a more detailed assessment of the fields' environmental impact was required, taking into account the effect on the climate of burning any fossil fuels extracted.
Rosebank contains an estimated 300 million to 500 million barrels of oil, making it the largest known untapped field in UK waters. As part of the original consenting process, environmental impact assessments were carried out to identify, describe and assess "the direct and indirect effects" of the projects.
Those assessments took into account emissions generated by the process of extracting oil and gas but not the greenhouse gases which would be released when those fossil fuels were eventually burned - known as "downstream" or "Scope 3" emissions.
But last June, in a dispute about oil wells near London's Gatwick Airport, the UK Supreme Court ruled that environmental impact assessments must also include downstream emissions.