Cromarty Rising

So the UK government have published their “post implementation review” of the 2012 ship to ship regulations. You can read it here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ship-to-ship-transfer-regulations-post-implementation-review

We haven’t got into the detail of it yet – mainly because there appears to be very little detail – there are three documents that appear to say that the number of STS transfers is declining (201 in 2012 to 39 in 2014 at SOUTHWOLD) and that the regulations are fine and theres been no pollution so its a job week done.

Wait on a minute – if the number of STS transfer are declining and there are only 39 undertaken at Southwold and only a few other around the UK- does the port’s business plan mean they are trying to capture the entire UK market unless we’ve missed something?? – how else could they raise £550K a year at £15K a transfer??

There is nothing about the concerns of the residents of the Southwold who are dealing with the impacts of low level pollution on their beaches.

There is nothing in there about the Scapa Flow licence, where the MCA ignored SEPA concerns about ballast water discharge and indeed their objection to the issuing of the licence.

There is nothing about the MCA awarding the 2012 licence at Nigg without undertaking an Appropriate Assessment or even consulting SNH at all.

There is nothing in there about the fact that the UK government “forgot” to consult the Scottish Government on this review!

We will look at this in more detail and no doubt come back to it. Tomorrow we start releasing the MCA’s response to the 2015 CFPA application. It is eye opening – don’t miss it!