May 2nd, 2019
The State is undermining the climate movement by granting
new licences for oil and gas exploration to the fossil fuel industry, People
before Profit (PBP) has said.
Referring to the Government’s newest exploratory drilling
licence handed to CNOOC Petroleum Europe and ExxonMobil, Deputy Bríd Smith described
the move as “a slap in the face to climate movement”.
“Despite the rhetoric, despite the PR and spin it shows this Government does not get climate change and
doesn’t understand what is happening, this latest licence round is a slap in
the face of both the movement in Ireland and the global movement on climate,”
she said.
The Department of Climate Action (DCCAE)
received an application last November from CNOOC
Petroleum Europe and ExxonMobil for permission to drill an exploratory well in the Porcupine Basin area.
The proposed
well falls within a 1,300 km2 area where CNOOC and ExxonMobil Exploration and
Production Ireland (Offshore South) Ltd already have a frontier exploration
licence that runs until February 2033.
The DCCAE
recently ran a press notice in the Irish Independent, revealing its
intention to grant the exploratory licence to CNOOC and ExxonMobil in line with
the country’s Petroleum and Other Minerals Development Act of 1960.
Ms Smith called on Climate Action Minister Richard Bruton TD
to reconsider the issue of exploratory drilling as such licences may
“undermine” the efficacy of future bills aimed at banning oil and gas exploration.
“Both the Department and the industry know the game is up,
the Climate Emergency Measures Bill is coming through the Oireachtas and will
ban future licences like this,” she said.
Ms Smith said that the Government’s “continued support” for the fossil fuel industry needs to be highlighted and rebuked.
A spokesperson for DCCAE did not immediately reply to The Green News’s request for comment.
The Los Angeles Times and InsideClimate
News recently revealed that Exxon understood that its product was contributing
to global warming in the 1970s but did not pass on the information to the
public.
According to
documents obtained by reporters, Exxon’s own scientists informed company
executives that the doubling of CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere would increase
global temperatures by between two and three degrees Celsius.
The company also
found itself in hot water earlier this month when its failure in sending a
representative to an EU hearing led to calls to strip its lobbyists’ access to the
European Parliament.
In a recent statement issued to Agence
France-Presse, ExxonMobil said that it was “constrained” from attending the
session due to “ongoing climate litigation in the United States”. The company
said that it feared its participation in the EU hearing “could prejudice those
pending proceedings”.
“That this
company could face an EU Parliament ban for its failures speaks volumes. But
the State has no problem handing over vast swathes of the Irish ocean to such a
company to facilitate continued exploration for fossil fuels,” Ms Smith said.
During Dáil
proceedings in March, Ms Smith asked the Minister of State with responsibility for Natural
Resources Séan Canney TD if any departmental officials have held discussions
with ExxonMobil about the license application with CNOOC.
Mr Canney said
that officials would naturally meet with representatives of companies holding
licenses in the Irish offshore in “fulfilling their functions in respect of the
regulation of oil and gas exploration and production”.
He said, however, that neither himself nor Mr Bruton has held discussions with ExxonMobil or CNOOC in respect of this application.
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