Waikato Law Professor To Speak At Select Committee
March 19, 2012
Waikato Law Professor To Speak At Select
Committee
Waikato Law Professor
Barry Barton will appear before the Local Government and
Environment Select Committee this week (SUBS: March 22).
Professor Barton is the Director of the Centre for Environmental, Resources and Energy Law (CEREL) at the University of Waikato and he has made a submission to the select committee on the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf (Environmental Effects) Bill. CEREL’s role is to bring disinterested expertise to bear on law and policy concerning energy, natural resources, and the environment.
Professor Barton’s submission focused on the fact that the Bill lacked any procedure to regulate the way an oil and gas well is drilled, plugged and abandoned. The design of an oil and gas well involves complex, specialised engineering to manage the pressure in order to prevent a blowout. How the Bill stands at present will not allow for expert prior scrutiny and approval, Professor Barton says.
Professor Barry Barton submitted
that:
• The Bill should be amended by adding a
requirement that before a company drills an oil and gas well
it obtain approval of the design of the well, and that
related well operations (including plugging and abandonment)
also require approval.
• A Well Safety Unit should be
established to grant these approvals, bringing together the
necessary expertise. It could be part of the
EPA.
• Different Acts need to be amended so that the
Unit will have jurisdiction over the different aspects of
the matter, ie the protection of the marine environment, the
prevention of damage to valuable subsurface structures, and
the protection of human health and safety.
• The same
approval regime can be used for onshore New Zealand and the
territorial sea, because the problem is just the same
there.
• The Well Safety Unit will be a better
regulator than regional councils in relation to deep
subsurface operations generally.
Professor Barton appears before the committee Thursday morning, March 22.
Waikato’s Centre for Environmental, Resources and
Energy Law was launched late last year. It brings together
Te Piringa – Faculty of Law’s internationally recognised
research strengths in energy and environmental law,
sustainable development and natural resource management, and
Māori and indigenous governance.
ENDS