By Skye Milburn
Oil pollution in the UK has been underestimated and is putting oceanic wildlife at risk. Oceana, a conservation group, has said that oil has very frequently been released into the North Sea, albeit in small quantities.
Both accidental oil spills as well as intentional discharges of “produced water” have been reported by oil companies. Produced water is essentially a byproduct that can contain oil and other toxic substances. These oil companies are allowed to produce certain amounts of produced water, but amounts that succeed the permitted levels are reported separately. These separate recordings cause severe underreporting of the total amounts of oil released into the UK waters.
According to official data, when the accidental spills and subsequent amounts of permitted charges were combined, it resulted in a 45% increase in oil pollution compared to ten years ago.
Hugo Tagholm, executive director of Oceana, is quoted as saying, “The system has been set up in such an opaque way that it makes it difficult to understand the full volume of oil that is being discharged via accidental spills and permit breaches.”
He went on to say, “Given so few sites are actually inspected, it’s out of sight, out of mind. Even if people are caught, there is little enforcement.”
Tagholm ultimately charged that regulators were not doing enough to monitor the industry, and described fines as “a drop in the ocean” in comparison to corporate profits. Oceana is now requesting an increase in enforcement and inspections to prevent further breaches and spills.
There have been two documented convictions or fines for oil pollution in the UK over the past five years, including one for £7,000 against BP for a 95-ton oil spill. At the time, BP claimed the event “should not have happened” and that it had “regrettably” failed to live up to its “high standards.”
These failures to monitor the amounts of oil being released into the UK waters are making oil pollution worse than anyone had thought. If we don’t start taking this seriously, destruction of habitats, food chains and marine life are certain. Since this much oil pollution is being allowed in the UK, we can only imagine what’s happening globally.
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