The British government has responded to two pollution problems in strikingly different ways.
One presented a tangible threat to the environment. The other is more ethereal.
Following the oil spill from the Braer tanker in January 1993, the U.K, Department of Transport's Marine Pollution Control Unit (MPCU) has issued a report. This details the spill and lessons learned in the cleanup campaign.
And following the Rio de Janiero Earth Summit of June 1992, the Department of the Environment (DOE) has launched a climate change program. This is aimed at reducing emissions of "greenhouse" gases.
BRAER SPILL
MPCU said the 600,000 bbl Braer spill was the 11th largest on record and largest in the U.K since the 870,000 bbl Torrey Canyon tanker spill of 1967.
"It is therefore remarkable that the Braer spill, despite the harm it caused to fisheries and farmland, has required a physical cleanup response on a comparatively modest scale," MPCU said.
Reasons for this were extremely low viscosity and high dispersibility of Gullfaks crude oil and violent weather. Braer represented the first time oil that dispersed relatively quickly was spilled in high seas.
Although less than 1% of the oil washed ashore, the concentration of dispersed oil near the wreckage was high. Nearby salmon farms and shellfish beds were severely harmed, and soft seabed areas southeast of the Shetland Islands were polluted.
"Another unusual feature of this incident was the pollution of farmland and inhabited areas near the coast by wind-blown oil spray," MPCU said. "People working in the open had to wear face masks, sheep and cattle had to be moved, crops had to be condemned, and houses had to be repainted."
MPCU concluded that oil dispersion by sea and wind required further research. The government's Scottish Office set up a group to study long term effects of the spill. Monitoring is under way at sea, along the shoreline, and on land.
GREENHOUSE GASES
By 2000, DOE aims to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 6%, methane by 10%, and nitrous oxide by 75%. One of its main tactics is curbing vehicle emissions.
"To have any major impact on projected trends, measures would be required that would change current patterns of transport use," said Prime Minister John Major in announcing the program. The main weapon is increased taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel. These were raised 8-10% in the November 1993 government budget and will be raised at least 5% above the rate of inflation in future budgets.
A DOE official said extra revenues will go to Treasury. None of the extra revenue is to be used directly for environmental research, although a lot of money is said to be spent on environmental research anyway.
DOE is said to hope the tax hike will force motorists to make only necessary journeys.
But the agency admitted the decision to increase taxes was not based on evidence that higher fuel costs curb travel. Sounds like a tittle more research might help there, too.
Copyright 1994 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
