Impacts of International Environmental Laws on Oil and Gas Production - Coursework Example

IMPACTS OF INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS ON OIL/GAS PRODUCTION By Location Impacts of international environmental laws on oil/gas production Background Everywhere around the globe, the issue of consumption of natural resource and environmental pollution has been presenting archetypal environmental problems. Communities are often fighting their governments, at both state and international levels mainly to protect their environments that they have been relying on for many years. On the other hand, governments are making efforts to protect these natural resources by implementing policies and laws that are meant to ensure that communities do not lose their treasures. However, there are some companies and individuals who seek to benefit from these protected resources to develop projects that will benefit both the state and nations with products, revenue, and more resources. Although these are good developmental projects, the stakeholders of such project ought to ensure that they protect the preserved resources before they start benefiting from them. Like in any other country, Australian communities are also engulfed in fights of saving their environments as there are many companies such as AROIL Petroleum Company that are looking forward to create projects that cause a lot of harm to both the environment and those living within such areas. Despite the arm that the Company will cause to the environment, the government has licensed it to construct a controversial oil pipeline connecting the centre of the country with its coast for transportation of shale oil (Sjöstedt 2009, p. 56). Building this pipeline means that the Company will transcend indigenous communal lands, farmlands, natural habitats, and heritage sites. Due to the recent oil spill, the company is receiving a lot of opposition from neighbouring groups and also groups from other parts of the country due to the effects it has caused to the Australian coastline. News of this new company has angered many surrounding groups and environmental agencies. The environmental groups are highly opposing the company’s controversy. They argue that the new project will end up negatively affecting wildlife and indigenous habitats. However, there are some key leaders who are still in support of the construction of this pipeline claiming that it will benefit both the company and the nation (Hunter 2014, p. 13). Some of the benefits include stimulating economic activity, generating local jobs and income, and meeting the needs of energy in Australia and its neighbouring countries. Concerns are raised by both the surrounding communities and environmental groups concerning the safety of this new venture. These concern centres on protecting the environment, conservation of biological diversity, and maintenance of ecological processes. They also aim at protecting the well being of the residents of those areas and natural habitats. Legal issues and processes have been brought forward and this will result in some groups going to court to complain against the ongoing of this new venture. As the Senior Manager of this company, I hereby seek to highlight the impacts that the company will have on the environment as well as presenting a proposal for successful implementation of the pipeline. Impact of Oil/Gas Production on the Environment The activities of the AROIL Petroleum Company that may cause severe impacts to the environment include grading, waste management, ground clearing, drilling, and construction of facilities. Oppositions to the construction of the pipeline are often linked to the indirect impacts that are associated with the oil source and what will happen to the oil at the coast terminal.The environmental assessments carried out before the beginning of the project might not have considered the potential environmental impacts that will be associated with the pipeline construction (Ron & Rosenberg 2014, p. 78). The board of directors of AROIL Petroleum Company should acknowledge that the new project has potential impacts to the environment and therefore, this report recommends that the company’s management should seek appropriate measures that will overcome the impacts. The construction, decommissioning, and operation of the new pipeline will cause a number of effects to the environment. The quality of the atmospheric air can be impacted by the dust that will be emitted during construction and emission of air contaminants due to compulsion of fossil fuels. The emission of the greenhouse gases is generally illegal according to national laws. Harm will also be caused to acoustic environment (Ylitalo, et al 2012, p. 89). The operations in the pumping stations and construction activities will generally increase noise. Soils will also be compacted and mixed, eroded, removed, and contaminated. Local chemical emissions can also acidify soil causing acid rain (Zhu, Lubeck & Kilbane 2003, p. 16). In addition, possible geology alterations during the pipeline construction will cause landscapes and many risks to the environment and its safety (Videm & Dugstad2009, p. 11). For instance, fish habitats will be highly affected. Vegetation will also be negatively affected. Plants and old growth forests will be affected due to surface disturbance, water flow changes, and air contamination (Moye 2002, p. 34). Risk to wildlife will also be caused by fragmentation, removal, and alteration of habitats, and noise as well as creation of movement barriers. Water pollution is also another impact influencing critic to block the ongoing construction of the new pipeline. For instance, the recent oil spill has caused a lot of harm to the country’s coastline thus, increasing opposition from the critics. The oil spill could have overwhelming impacts not only on the Australian environment but also on other coastal regions of other surrounding countries (De Soysa et al 2014, p. 67). Such oil spills will harm both freshwater fish and their habitats. Pipeline related activities such as vegetation clearance and grading have severe impacts on the production capacity of fish, their mortality and health (Barron 2012, p. 37). These activities could also alter the flow of both ground and surface water. It is due to these negative impacts that the company will continue to face a lot of opposition from the surrounding communities (Carriger& Barron 2011, p. 52). Construction of pipelines has been taking place for many years and there is a lot information on how to ease the above discussed environmental effects. However, these effects cannot be mitigated entirely, but they can only be reduced to an acceptable level (Arinaitwe 2013, p. 34). There are a number of international laws that have been implemented to help mitigate these impacts. Therefore, in order to reduce the opposition that AROIL Petroleum Company is experiencing, the management should ensure that they adhere to the set international environmental laws (White et al 2013, p. 15). Oil/Gas Production and International Environmental Law All oil and gas industries around the world operate under the international environment oil and gas laws. These laws cover all aspects concerning oil and gas industry. Such aspects include, operational issues, licensing, project contracts, joint venture, construction, service contract, farm-in, disposal, acquisition, diligence work, and transportation (Gibson 2003, p. 34). The extraction and transportation of oil and gas is a hazardous activity that causes many risks to the entire environment. In the case of the project at hand, environmental woes will occur during all the stages involved in pipeline construction and the transportation of the product (Ingelson &Nwapi 2014, p. 45). The entire process has a range of environmental risks which include; accidental spills, operational discharges, atmospheric emissions, and blow outs that occur during development stage.At the present, there are more than seventy international agreements and conventions that are directly focusing on protection of marine environment (Warr et al, 2011, p. 67). The below discussion evaluates several international environmental laws that are employed by the Australian government to minimize the risks that the company may cause to the environment. Downstream energy law and policy This law is implemented to govern all downstream energy industries. The main importance of this policy is that it restructures all energy and gas industries. The law minimizes the pollution that such industries cause to the environment, thus making it better. This law will protect the environment from this project by regulating and changing the regulators approach. Environmental law and policy for energy and natural resources This law deals with international and national environmental power generation and policy, utilization of natural resources as well as production. For instance, it governs activities such as mining activities, petroleum transportation, nuclear energy use, global climate pollution and effects (Louka 2006, p. 32). According to this law, AROIL Petroleum Company will not be able to use the indigenous tribal lands without filing a legal documentation. Continuous spills will bring to the company the risk of being blocked by the government from continuing with the new project (Sands, Peel, Fabra Aguilar & Mackenzie 2012, p. 54). Therefore, this law will help minimize that harm caused to the environment because the company’s management will be keen on such issues. International and comparative oil law and policy This is another law that is implemented to all international petroleum industries. This law mainly focuses of the oil companies, host government, and investors (Finch, et all 2012, p. 38). In accordance to this law, all investors and international corporations are confronted in a practical and an open way. The stakeholders have a lot of interest on petroleum financial developments. This law supports the taxation issues, thus, helping to solve various environmental issues (Wawryk 2002, p. 78). The AROIL Petroleum Company in this case will be required to pay carbon emission and pollution penalties, thus minimizing the harm the new project will cause to the environment such as the oil spills (Gamble 2008, p. 27). Critical Evaluation Based on the above discussion, AROIL Petroleum Company has already caused a lot harm to the environment especially out of the recent oil spill. This has negatively affected both dry land and seawater life. The spill has also resulted in both air and water pollution, thus affecting the health of the surrounding communities (Dolinsky, Nielsen, McCammon& Baker 2004, p. 78). Continuous environmental pollution may lead the company face risks such as political risk, economical risk, and termination risk (Partlett & Weaver 2011, p. 41). The company will have many issues to handle and this may result in huge losses. There several solutions that the company can use in order to minimize its environmental pollution. By doing this, the surrounding communities will positively support continuation of the new project. Gas and oil production emit a lot of harmful greenhouse gases and hazardous air pollutants. Emission of these gases can be minimized through the use of effective practices and technologies (Partiett & Weaver 2011, p. 90). The company should also implement strategies for measuring toxic air pollution that it emits to the atmosphere. In order for the company to ovoid the issue of land grabbing, it should ensure that it fully compensates the land owners (Fagbohun 2010, p. 78). The company should also find quality means of preventing further oil spills, which is the current issue forcing many protestors to go to court to block the new project. Other improvements include advanced monitoring and combustion competence, functional requirements for flaring (Fiolek, Pikula& Voss 2010, p. 89). This is because it often used and since it involves waste burning, it creates air pollution thus, affecting many lives. Implementation of Recommendations As mentioned in the above critical evaluation, in order to reduce emission of harmful gases, the company will need to implement effective practices and technologies. This will include pinpointing and monitoring fugitive emissions (Hsu & Robinson 2007, p. 81). This will follow sealing all the leaks, connecting the storage tanks with flare systems, replacing gas-driven chemical pumps with electric. In addition, in order to reduce gas emission, the company will install low or no-bleed pneumatic devices, high efficiency flares, separator pumps, water tanks with closed-loop skimmers, and pipeline bleeders with evacuators (Wawryk 2003, p. 45). There are also very good instruments and means to reduce oil pollution especially oil spills. The four major options that the company need to implement are: mechanical collection and containment; usage of chemical dispersants; natural removal that requires no cleanup actions; and physical shoreline clean-ups (Palmer 2011, p. 69). Other counter-measures that the company will have to implement are: gelling; burning; sinking; and advanced biodegradation. The company will also have to employ highly qualified technicians to be in charge of all sensitive operations in order to ensure that no more harm is caused to the environment (Thomas 2012, p. 111). Since the company is currently suffering losses, the company will have to borrow loan from financial institutions in order to make the entire implementation process successful (Gassman 2012, p. 37).At the present, there are more than seventy international agreements and conventions that are directly focusing on protection of marine environment and therefore, it will be the duty of the company to adhere to all these policies. 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