Oil tax breaks gambling with Scotland’s environment

Commenting on today’s news that First Minister, Alex Salmond, is proposing to change how North Sea oil and gas companies are taxed, Stan Blackley, Chief Executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said:

“Alex Salmond is proposing tax breaks for the big oil companies so that they can continue their dirty business while making massive profits.

“We’ve seen, through Deepwater Horizon and elsewhere, the devastating consequences that exploiting increasingly difficult and dangerous oil fields can bring. Further offshore exploration will also undermine the emissions reduction targets in the Scottish Government’s Climate Change Act.

“Instead of pushing for tax breaks for oil companies, the First Minister should be focusing on delivering his own Government’s ambitious renewable energy targets and creating the long-term jobs and opportunities that will come from this.

“Scotland does not need continued and new, dirty and dangerous fossil fuel extraction in the North Sea. We need investment in demand reduction, energy efficiency and renewable and sustainable sources of energy, and a government that actually lives up to its warm words on tackling climate change and creating a sustainable energy future for Scotland.”

ENDS

For media enquiries, please contact: Per Fischer, Press Office, Friends of the Earth Scotland
t: 0131 243 2719

Notes to Editors

North Sea oil and gas investment – Scottish Government press release
www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2011/06/10082532

Friends of the Earth Scotland is * Scotland’s leading environmental campaigning organisation * An independent Scottish charity with a network of thousands of supporters and active local groups across Scotland * Part of the largest grassroots environmental network in the world, uniting over 2 million supporters, 77 national member groups, and some 5,000 local activist groups – covering every continent.
www.foe-scotland.org.uk