MP backs halt to Arctic drilling

Edinburgh North and Leith MP, Mark Lazarowicz, is one of the MPs behind a hard hitting report just out on oil and gas exploration in the Arctic which calls for a halt to drilling at the very least until safety is given the same priority as the rush for oil and gas.

Today he said: “The Arctic is already warming at twice the rate of the rest of the planet and as the ice-cap recedes there is a rush to exploit oil and gas reserves.

“Yet safety procedures have simply not kept pace.

“Arctic conditions already make it difficult to cope with spills – if a blow-out occurred just before the winter it could be the spring before it was possible to cap it. Drilling must stop until the highest safety standards are in place.”

The MP is a long-standing member of the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee which produced the report.