Environmental Report 1999 Index

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How The Industry Is Regulated Although the DTI takes the lead on most issues relating to the offshore oil and gas industry, our activities are actually regulated by a number of Government Departments. Given the nature and scale of our industry and its complexity, this is not surprising. The DTI has authority over a great many routine activities (for example, drilling a new well), and where environmental issues are involved it will authorise an activity only after detailed consultation with other Government Departments. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Foods (MAFF), the Scottish Executive and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) will all be consulted, and in some situations, the final decision will be reached following public consultation. The major regulations currently governing our industry are shown below. But, as we have already mentioned, the Government has embarked on a major programme of new legislation under the recently enacted Pollution Prevention and Control (PPC) Act. The Government's intention is to introduce a series of separate regulations covering specific activities which, in the long term, will constitute a fully integrated set of regulations covering all aspects of the offshore oil and gas industry that have the potential to cause a significant environmental impact. UKOOA will be reviewing these issues carefully with the Government as these new regulations are drafted, and we will recommend strongly that they should balance environmental benefits with all the other benefits our industry brings to the UK. The table which follows excludes the first set of regulations issued under the PPC Act as these are still in the process of consultation.