Demand to withdraw BP leaflet

FoE today demanded that BP withdraw a promotional leaflet from service stations around the country which uses the FoE name in promoting BP oil exploration plans in the Atlantic Frontier.

The leaflet, which attempts to explain why BP is backing the Atlantic Frontier Oil Project, states that Friends of the Earth (Shetland) praised our efforts to communicate with local organisations in drawing up the Assessment'

Shetland Friends of the Earth member Chris Brown said, "We wrote publicly (Shetland Times Dec 95) and thanked BP for meeting with ourselves but the context of the leaflets implies we were involved in drawing up the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), wheras in fact this EIA was in circulation before we met and indeed was what prompted us to ask for a meeting because we had grave and fundamental concerns with that assessment. As was specifically raised at that meeting with BP in December 95 we are still awaiting a full answer to our question over levels of investment in renewable energy".

Kevin Dunion, Director of FoE Scotland said, "This is a sign that BP are desperate to appear environmentally friendly because they know that the threat of climate change to their business is very real indeed. Whilst the local FoE group did enter into a constructive dialogue over direct environmental dangers of oil extraction, such as the need for double hulled tankers and coastal monitoring - the simple fact is that the debate has moved on dramatically since then following internationally recognised scientific reports concluding that climate change has become one of the most serious threats to the environment.

FoE has serious misgivings about the non sustainable nature of the oil industry. As with forests or mountains, just because oil reserves exist should not mean we need to exploit them. It is noteworthy that BP has declined to answer a question put at a meeting with local FoE members in Shetland - namely what proportion of overall investment BP is putting towards alternative energy production".

FoE Scotland has written to BP asking for the leaflets to be withdrawn.