Oil industry protecting the environment

6 May 2010

The oil and gas industry is not the villain of the piece when it comes to the pollution of seawater. On the contrary, the large businesses are often protecting the environment concludes NWO researcher Judith van Leeuwen in her PhD thesis.

Who is responsible for polluting the oceans? The owner of a ship or a drilling rig? The country whose territorial waters are polluted? There are increasing numbers of drilling rigs and ships and with them increasing damage to the ocean environment. There is therefore a need for legislation. Judith van Leeuwen investigated who is actually in charge of shipping traffic and gas and oil exploitation at sea. Newcomers to the market are shifting the basis of authority, but Van Leeuwen has shown that this shift is not always systematic, and not inherently good, even though many scientists assume this to be the case.

Responsibility

There have been many changes in the oil and gas industry over recent decades. At the same time, the industry and individual states have gained greater power than international organisations. This dominance has a good impact for the environment, as the oil and gas industry seeks a more progressive image. Companies make rules themselves, and supervise their enforcement.

The allocation of authority in the shipping industry is entirely different. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has been and continues to be the dominant force in this sector. The power of the industry and flag states (ships sail under the flag of he country where they have been registered) has actually diminished in recent decades. But nature also benefits from this allocation of authority: the IMO maintains a check on the marine shipping industry, which is less inclined than the gas and oil sector to impose its own strict rules.

Major threats to the marine environment reared their head once again after the drilling island Deepwater Horizon was sunk in the Gulf of Mexico. Oil company BP admitted full liability after the disaster and accepted responsibility for the pollution and the costs of the clean-up. This, according to Van Leeuwen, was not a matter of course: 'Countries derive the maximum profit from oil drilling off their coasts. Since the 1960s, countries and companies have been working closely with each other on this. They embarked on a joint adventure, which is why countries, the industry and international organisations are collaborating so fruitfully, even now. So well, in fact, that environmental organisations see little point in becoming involved in this collaborative circle, although things might well change in the wake of this disaster.'

Allocation of power

There has been legislation dealing with drilling for oil and gas at sea since the late 1970s. But rapid developments in the industry mean that the legislation is now distributed in a remarkably fair way among different entities. While an international body – OSPAR – was initially in charge of the North-East Atlantic, it is now the individual states and the oil companies themselves that are taking the initiative to develop legislation. The duties are allocated meticulously. OSPAR maintains a supervisory role over water pollution by oil and chemicals, while the countries keep an eye on atmospheric pollution and the oil companies chart pollution, make rules and ensure compliance with these.

Van Leeuwen has demonstrated that this sort of shift in the power-base never happened in the shipping sector. But the allocation of power works well in that sector, too. The IMO regulates environmental measures and provides new rules. The EU has also started adding rules to those of the IMO. The decision-making process within the IMO is often sluggish, because the major flag states are so resistant to strict regulation. However, the IMO adopts the more progressive environmental measures legislated by the EU almost without exception, in order to avoid regional variations in legislation. The power of the shipping industry has waned in the face of the collaborative strength of the EU and the IMO.

The major differences in how power is allocated show that companies and countries need not always work in the same way. Many scientists assume that there is a shift going on at the moment from national legislation to public-private collaboration and international players, but Van Leeuwen has shown that the opposite is true.

Judith van Leeuwen's research offers a new insight into collaboration involving a large number of entities. She suggests it is now easier to know when to expect shifts and how to take advantage of them.

Van Leeuwen undertook her research with a grant from the NWO Free Competition. The Free Competition is a grant programme designed to promote innovative, high-quality scientific research. Judith van Leeuwen interviewed about fifty officials, people from the industry and important figures in environmental organisations.

About NWO

The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) is the principal Dutch science funding body and its mission is to facilitate excellent scientific research in the Netherlands by means of national competition. Each year NWO spends more than 700 million euro on grants for top researchers, on innovative instruments and equipment, and on institutes where top research is performed. NWO funds the research of more than 5300 talented researchers at universities and institutes. Independent experts select proposals by means of a peer review system. NWO facilitates the transfer of knowledge to society.

..............................

For further information please contact:

• Judith van Leeuwen (Wageningen University and Research Centre)
• t.: +31 317 48 29 84, judith.vanleeuwen@wur.nl
• The doctoral thesis was defended on 7 May 2010
• Supervisor: Prof. A.P.J. Mol (Environmental policy), associate supervisor: Dr J.P.M. van Tatenhove

The PhD thesis can be ordered via: http://www.wageningenacademic.com/EPS-01