Sir,
An estimated 53 tonnes of diesel escaped from the Transocean Winner and there is no environmental impact? Really?
Approximately 60,000 litres has been lost and they are telling us that it has just disappeared.
I am currently working on a North Sea platform and if we lose one litre of diesel a Pon 1 is imposed upon us through a government agency.
See extract below from www.gov.uk/guidance/oil-
Licensees and operators are obliged to report under the following circumstances:
a permit holder or operator of an offshore installation must inform the Secretary of State of a release, discharge or incident where there has been or may be a significant effect of pollution on the environment (see Regulation 11A(1) and (2) of the Offshore Petroleum Activities (Oil Pollution Prevention and Control) Regulations 2005 (as amended) and Regulation 15(1) and (1A) of the Offshore Chemicals Regulations 2002 (as amended))
a petroleum licence may require the licensee to notify the minister and/or Chief Inspector of HM Coastguard of any event causing escape or waste of petroleum.
offshore and pipeline operators who become aware of any event involving any discharge
of oil at sea (regardless of quantity) must report it to the HM Coastguard without
delay (see Regulation 5(2) of the Merchant Shipping (Oil Pollution Preparedness,
Response and Co-
Reading the above and working within the industry for nearly 19 years you can see my concern and surprise at such a flippant statement.
If we lost one tonne of diesel we would probably be sacked and the Company we work for would probably lose the contract due to negligence that is how serious it is taken out here.
The Comhairle and the whole island must get better clarification of this situation, we have a beautiful unspoilt coastline which we all enjoy, some for fishing, some for wildlife and some for just pleasure, 53 tonnes of diesel floating about somewhere out there does not figure in that scene.
When Transocean get the rig moved or destructed, they will move on but we might have to live with the consequences of their very careless actions.
John M Graham
16 North Bragar
Lewis
Letter: Transocean oil spill: Who is kidding who?
15 August 2016
