Government loses court battle over Atlantic wildlife

Reported in The Daily Telegraph; Saturday, November 6, 1999, By Peter Foster

The Government was told by the High Court yesterday that it must protect rare whales, dolphins and deepsea corals from the effects of oil exploration in the northeast Atlantic.

The case, brought by environmental groups including Greenpeace and the World Wide Fund For Nature, confirmed that rare species must be protected for 200 miles around the British coastline under European legislation.

The Government, backed by 10 oil companies including Esso, Texaco and Mobil, had said that the European Union Habitats and Species Directive applied only to waters within 12 miles of the coast.

The ruling will delay applications for oil and gas exploration licences on the Atlantic frontier, the slopes of the continental shelf north and north-west of the British Isles.

Among the rare species environmentalists hope to have protected under the directive is the deep water coral lophelia pertusa whose reefs provide a rich habitat for other marine life such as crabs, sea cucumbers, sponges and sea spiders.

Greenpeace said that drilling and exploration in special areas of conservation caused irreparable damage to coral reefs and damaged the breeding and resting grounds of dolphins and whales. The lophelia reefs, found around the European coastline, are described by Greenpeace as the "rainforests of the sea". The largest in British waters, known as the Darwin Mounds, were discovered in 1997 off the west coast of Scotland.

Mr Justice Kay was told that the Atlantic frontier was at the centre of proposals for the latest (19th) round of oil exploration and production licences. At the end of the four-day hearing he ruled that the Government had "failed to give full effect" to the directive and must now fully take it into account when granting licences.

The Government failed in its attempt to have the Greenpeace case thrown out on the grounds that it had not brought its case within the required time. While conceding the legal point, the judge ruled that the importance of the case and "the public interest" meant that it should be allowed to proceed despite objections.

The environmentalists' victory is a setback to oil companies, which joined Stephen Byers, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, in opposing Greenpeace's application for judicial review.

The companies had said that granting Greenpeace's application would have "grave effects" on investor confidence in an industry generating £2-5 billion of Government revenue last year and representing more than 15 per cent of total industrial investment in Britain.

Lord Melchett, the executive director of Greenpeace, who was arrested earlier this year during a demonstration against genetically modified crop trials, said the ruling was a huge victory for all wildlife in the Atlantic. "This decision means wildlife is going to be protected and the Government is going to have to act to make sure it is".

He added: "Instead of exploiting our waters at the expense of wildlife there should be a move away from oil to renewable energy resources, which would not only be in the interests of wildlife, but in all our interests".

The Department of the Environment said that ministers from across Whitehall would meet in the coming days to discuss their response to the ruling. An announcement is expected within a week.

The oil companies last night played down the environmentalists' win, saying that the industry was already subject to strict controls which would stop drilling at conservation sites such as coral reefs.