17th April 2023
ACCE DTP placement – North Sea oil spills exceed safe level
ACCE DTP student Jasmine Wakefield discovered that oil spilled routinely into UK waters, including marine protected areas, has added up to thousands of tonnes of pollution endangering marine life. This work was done during Jasmine’s ACCE placement to energy campaigning group Uplift, and was recently reported on the front page of BBC News (13-04-2023) and in the Times newspaper (14-04-2023)
The data, put together from publicly available data and government FOIs, shows that while some oil spillage is allowed (58% through government permits), over 40% of monitored releases are in breach of these permits. The dataset is now the largest open-access oil spill data available globally. Jasmine’s work involved working within Uplift’s research team to co-ordinate the launch of their flagship review of the scientific literature on the marine impacts of oil and gas extraction in UK seas.
Full report available here.
accedtp.ac.uk 