‘Infuriating’ demands for Shetland drilling will worsen extreme weather

Climate campaigners have slammed a new report demanding new oil drilling in West of Shetland, saying it would lead to “more people killed by extreme weather”.

The authors also demanded lower taxes on the vast profits of oil companies.

Friends of the Earth Scotland’s oil and gas campaigns manager Rosie Hampton said,

“Burning more oil, whether from Shetland or anywhere else, will mean more suffocating heatwaves, destructive floods and more people killed by extreme weather. When people call for more drilling, these are the inevitable consequences that will be felt by people in Scotland and around the world.

“It is even more infuriating that these industry cheerleaders are demanding that oil companies don’t even pay their fair share of taxes on this drilling.

“Jobs in the industry have halved over the last decade despite hundreds of oil and gas licenses issued in that time. The jobs we need for the long term are in renewable energy.

“Instead of giving in to greedy fossil fuel companies, we need to build an energy system that brings down bills, is powered by renewables and run in the public interest.”