– Historical oil spills for horror and warning

On February 28, the Environment Directorate came up with disturbing notice: Oil spills from the Njord A platform outside Frøya have reached land. This is the first time emissions from a Norwegian oil platform have hit Norwegian beaches.

The oil that has now gathered in lumps along the shoreline comes from a discharge from Njord A on New Year's Eve last year. Over the past few months, the beer has driven towards land and spread along the coast of Trøndelag and Nordland. The areas affected are the home of a rich wildlife and are very vulnerable to pollution. The breeding season is immediately underway, and large amounts of seabirds winter in the oil -affected areas.

Then there is little comfort that the oil companies have always assured us that such events have never happened in Norway before, precisely that pollution from Norwegian platforms reaches land. Now it has happened and the scope is large.

The ongoing crisis is still under development, and Equinor, who is responsible for the incident, seems completely unprepared to handle the emission and limit the extent of damage. Weather and wind carry the oil spill north towards the Helgeland coast, and new vulnerable areas are threatened.

The accident outside Frøya is a horror and warning for politicians who want to open for oil drilling in our most vulnerable marine areas. This is a tangible evidence of the natural disasters we risk.

On the political agenda, Lofoten, Vesterålen and Senja are now on tour, once again. The Right Program Committee proposes to open the Nordland VI block outside the Lofoten for oil and gas extraction. And there are striking similarities between the Njord A-accident and LoVeSe: Vulnerable natural areas and a short distance to land. It is about as far from the Njord A platform to countries as the Nordland VI block to land.

If the proposal goes through at Høyre's national meeting, it is open to irreplaceable damage to nature and wildlife. The battle for an oil -free Lovese has not yet been won.

Karoline Andaur

General

WWF World Natural Fund