Here you may add any interesting correspondence you have received or sent regarding the Foreshore Drilling application. People may also post comments on each correspondence.
Please note that views and opinions in the below comments do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of www.ProtectOurCoast.net.
We go this email from Cecilie Østby
Senior advisor – Marine division – The Norwegian Directorate for Nature
Regarding Close Proximity Forshore Drilling
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In Norway we have no legal minimum distance for drilling off the shoreline. In the Barents Sea we have some special regulations, and no licenses will be awarded in areas closer than 35 km from the shore.
In general petroleum activity in Norway has been quite far from the shore. But the interest in areas, as well as the activity has been moving closer to the shore the latest years, and we have had a few drilling activities at short distances of approximately 50 km from the shore.
In the Norwegian Sea there has as far as we know, been no exploration drilling closer than 25 km of our coastline. There are awarded a few licenses in the North Sea which are at a distance of approximately 15-20 km from the coast at the shortest. These are licenses my institution find very challenging when it comes to the environmental point of view.
The Directorate of Nature Management has no formal responsibility when it comes to petroleum activity in Norway. If you need more detailed information on the regulations, or activities closest to the shore in Norway, I recommend you to contact The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate.
Best regards
Cecilie Østby
Dear Minister Hogan,
I am writing to express my disappointment that the question No 13 from yesterdays Dáil Q&A regarding the application for licensing of testing and drilling from Providence Resources was not heard, nor answered. Over fifty of us took time out of our busy day to attend the session and to hear your response. I don’t believe it was unreasonable for the question to have been addressed as the Q&A session appeared to have started late and therefore the 5:45 cut off was within the hour that should have been allocated. Either way I believe judging from the body language of the Ceann Comhairle that you could have answered the question if you had been willing to do so. Needless to say I will be writing to the Ceann Comhairle, Mr Sean Barrett, also to express my concerns.
I seriously hope your offices are aware of how serious this situation is and the many issues of concern in relation to this application. There are already many tens of hundreds of voices who have serious concerns regard this licensing application. The previous government in my opinion have sold out our natural resources and created a disgraceful situation and an inadequate licensing process.
I believe it’s time for you as Minister to take action and give the many thousands of people the chance to have their voices heard. People of Ireland deserve an opportunity through a public enquiry to open a debate to see how this new situation created by the previous Fianna Fail government can be reviewed. Have the people of this country not been let down badly enough with the various banking crisis and horrendous decisions made by the last government. I fear this, the near giving away of our natural oil and gas resources to major corporations, will be the countries next major crisis of confidence. Once the general public are made aware of the sell out, I predict this maybe the ‘straw that broke the camels back’ in terms of public opinion. I think you will agree this is not just about a one off licence for Killiney bay, it is a much bigger issue, a national issue, there is a massive ground swell of concern out there.
Surely it’s time for you, as a representative of our new government to try and undo some of the damage which appears to have been done. Give people a sense of belief and hope in what you and your department stand for, a new balanced way of thinking. I sincerely hope common sense can prevail, common sense that appears to be understood by citizens, but not by the previous Fianna Fail Politian’s. We need to get this our county back on track by making sound decisions based on ‘Common Sense’ and informed reason.
I look forward to hearing from you, and request a meeting to discuss my concerns,
Kind regards,
Stephen Vard
Hyde Park, Dalkey, Co. Dublin
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