Norway extends hearing on Lofoten oil
The spills in the Mexico Gulf have made the Norwegian Minister of Environment extend a public hearing on drilling in the Lofoten area.
Minister of Environment and Development, Erik Solheim, confirms that the deadline for a public hearing on the Lofoten area has been postponed from 1 July to 15 September, newspaper Aftenposten reports. The reason for the extended time frame is the oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico.
-After the accident in the Gulf of Mexico, we need more time to assess the many difficult questions which have emerged – how could an oil company like BP make such drastic mistakes? Why has not more oil been collected and removed? Did the oil companies have sufficient control routines? Solheim asks.
-All lessons we can get from the Gulf of Mexico we have to include in the processes here at home, he underlines to Aftenposten.
Read also:Norway stalls all deep-water drilling
The minister also does not exclude that the deadline for the hearing might be further postponed. The input collected in the hearing process will form an important basis for the recommendations made in the government’s management plan for the area, due to be presented to the public in early 2011.
Solheim this week himself pays a visit to the affected areas around the Mexico Gulf
