A Fife MP will today urge the Government to explain the reasoning behind a decision to postpone the introduction of new regulations aimed at controlling ship-to-ship oil transfers in waters such as the Firth of Forth.
West Fife’s Thomas Docherty has secured a debate after the Department of Transport announced earlier this month it was deferring the implementation of the regulations from October to April next year “to ensure that all views are properly heard.”
Mr Docherty will also call on transport under secretary Mike Penning to fully outline the reasons, fearing that the delay could perhaps mean the regulations will eventually be withdrawn.
Mr Penning wrote to Mr Docherty to say he had been discussing the regulations with various interested parties and had decided there needed to be a review.
Now the MP wants to know with whom discussions have been held.
“The minister will respond to the debate and will explain why they have decided to delay the regulations,” said Mr Docherty. “My understanding is that this is about a group of Cornwall and Devon MPs who do not want ship-to-ship oil transfers to take place in their waters my understanding is that this would be the most likely area for it to possibly take happen if the regulations do come into force.
“They don’t want it in their area. They want it to take place here.
“We need to understand what is being said by these MPs. We have asked Mike Penning to pass on the letters he has received and if he does not, we will obtain them under Freedom of Information, which would be hugely embarrassing for the Government.
“We must not take shortcuts on this. My view is that we don’t need a further review. There has been plenty of consultation and debate already.
“The local authorities along the Forth, the RSPB and others are all opposed to ship-to-ship oil transfers taking place in the estuary and I have not spoken to a politician or community council who is in favour of this.
“If the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico proves anything, it is that self-regulation does not work and we cannot allow it.
“This is not something that anyone here wants, apart from perhaps Forth Ports, and I will be making this point crystal clear in the debate.
“We want the minister to understand the strength of feeling about this. We also need to understand what on earth he thinks is so compelling after two years that at the eleventh hour he’s putting a delay on this.”