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Musicians urge UK PM to reject North Sea Rosebank drilling plans
The campaign cites that consultation on the Rosebank project ended Monday, and warns most of the oil is likely to be exported rather than lowering UK energy bills.
More than 200 musicians, including Brian Eno, Thom Yorke, Robert Smith and members of Massive Attack, have signed a letter to UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham urging him to reject new North Sea oil and gas drilling plans covering the Rosebank oilfield and the Jackdaw gasfield.
The letter argues the Rosebank project would not deliver lower energy bills or improved energy security, because most of the oil was likely to be exported. The consultation on the Rosebank project closed on Monday, and ministers are set to decide on its future as well as that of the Jackdaw gasfield, whose consultation ended a week earlier.
Adura, the company behind both projects, has said they would involve 10.8 billion pounds in investment and support 3,500 jobs at peak construction, with 880 employees over the projects' production lifetime. Environmental activists counter that extracting fossil fuels from what they describe as the UK’s largest remaining untapped oilfield would accelerate climate impacts.
Estimates cited by the activists say Rosebank could produce more than 250 million tonnes of CO2 over its lifetime, equivalent to 70 percent of UK annual emissions. Brian Eno said Burnham had previously stood with artists and campaigners calling for an end to fossil fuel expansion, and framed the decision as a choice for the prime minister.