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Parliament in Britain
PUBLICATIONS
Santa Barbara Oil Spill The final report on the Santa Barbara Channel oil spill compiled by a team at the University of Southern California is now available in limited supply at $20 from Mr Ronald Linsky, Coordinator, Office of Sea Grant Programs, USC, University Park, Los Angeles, Ca., 90007. It comes in two volumes, the first dealing.with the biological research, the second with the physical, chemical and geological research.
PARLIAMENT IN BRITAIN Merchant Shipping (Oil Pollution) Bill In committee on February 9, the House of Lords considered a m e n d m e n t s to the bill introduced by Lord Drumalbyn in J a n u a r y (Marine Pollution Bulletin 2, 21; 1971). The main purpose of the bill is to enable the government to give effect to the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage which imposes a much stricter liability on tanker owners by increasing the limit of their liabilit3" from £28 to £56 a ton of oil or £5.8 million, which ever is the least, and by requiring that UK registered ships and other ships that enter UK ports with more than 2000 tons of oil carry a statutory certificate of insurance against the owners potential liability. The first a m e n d m e n t , moved by Lord Kennet, would have removed some of the exemptions from liability included both in the international convention and in the bill. That the bill does not incur any liability if pollution occurs from 'an act of war, hostilities, civil war or insurrection' seemed to him, reasonable, b u t to extend the exemptions to 'exceptional, inevitable and irresistible natural p h e n o m e n a ' would, because they are difficult to define, provide unwarranted loopholes. Lord D r u m a l b y n opposing the a m e n d m e n t , emphasised again that the main purpose of the bill is to ratify the international convention and that it would be difficult to alter the limits of
if ships were required to obtain special certificates from the Secretary of State before entering port; first it would be physically difficult to get the certificates on board each time the ship approached port and second, other convention countries might also insist on issuing certificates and an awkwardly complex situation would arise. Lord Kennet maintained, however, that his a m e n d m e n t would only inconvel3ience the ship owners whose ships were registered in non-convention countries and that it could only, therefore, aid the cause of the bill. Lord Drumalbyn promised to consider the point and, accordingly, Lord Kennet did not press the amendment. Oil in Navigable Waters Biii On the same day, the House of Lords, again in committee, considered a further a m e n d m e n t to the Oil in Navigable Waters Bill. One of the conventions signed in Brussels in 1969, which the British government has now ratified b u t which is not yet in force, deals with intervention on the high seas in cases of oil pollution, but there is no convention to cover British territorial %aters. This gap in the proposed legislation was highlighted by the Pacific Glory. incident last year, one week before the second reading of the bill in the House of Commons. A new clause, introduced by Lord Sandford, would give the government additional powers to direct o~aers and salvors of damaged ships within UK territorial waters to take action to avoid pollution, or if necessary, to take action itself. Failure to comply with the directions of the government would incur the £50,000 penalty on summary conviction or a fine without limit on indictment, the same p u n i s h m e n t as that for wilful discharge of oil. The new clause, said Lord Sandford, would give the government extensive powers b e y o n d the mere ratification of the international convention, b u t he hoped that, as in the case of the Pacific Glory incident, coop~raxion of the responsible parties would make the additional powers unnecessary. He did not believe, however, that such cooperation would always be so forthcoming. The amendment was agreed to.
FORTHCOMING
CONFERENCES
Colloquium on Environmental Pollution, organized by the European Institute for Advanced International Study, University of Nice, will be held at Nice, France,,on 12 May or 19 May and will last for 3 days. The Eighth World Petroleum Congress will be held in Moscow on 13-19 J u n e 1971. Information can be obtained from Wallace N. Seward, Secretary. of the US National Committee for the World Petroleum Congress, c/o the American Petroleum Institute, 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10020, USA. A four-day Symposium on the identification and measurement of environmental pollutants will be held in Ottawa, starting 14 J u n e 1971. It is sponsored by the Association of Official Analytical Chemists, IUPAC, Chemical Institute of Canada, Agricultural Institute of Canada, and the National Research Council of Canada. Further information can be obtained from Mr M. K. Ward, Executive Secretary, ISIMEP, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa 7, Ontario, Canada. The Second Pacem in Maribus conference on Pollution in the Mediterranean will be held at the Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions, Malta, on 29 J u n e for 7 days. Information can be obtained from the Second Pacem in Maribus Conference, Box 4068, Santa Barbara, California 93103, USA.
1971 Macmillan (,aTournals) Limited Printed in Great Britain by Robert 3,lacLehose & Co Lid, 7-~c Uni~,ersi.7; Press, Glasgow.
Santa Barbara Oil Spill The final report on the Santa Barbara Channel oil spill compiled by a team at the University of Southern California is now available in limited supply at $20 from Mr Ronald Linsky, Coordinator, Office of Sea Grant Programs, USC, University Park, Los Angeles, Ca., 90007. It comes in two volumes, the first dealing.with the biological research, the second with the physical, chemical and geological research.
PARLIAMENT IN BRITAIN Merchant Shipping (Oil Pollution) Bill In committee on February 9, the House of Lords considered a m e n d m e n t s to the bill introduced by Lord Drumalbyn in J a n u a r y (Marine Pollution Bulletin 2, 21; 1971). The main purpose of the bill is to enable the government to give effect to the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage which imposes a much stricter liability on tanker owners by increasing the limit of their liabilit3" from £28 to £56 a ton of oil or £5.8 million, which ever is the least, and by requiring that UK registered ships and other ships that enter UK ports with more than 2000 tons of oil carry a statutory certificate of insurance against the owners potential liability. The first a m e n d m e n t , moved by Lord Kennet, would have removed some of the exemptions from liability included both in the international convention and in the bill. That the bill does not incur any liability if pollution occurs from 'an act of war, hostilities, civil war or insurrection' seemed to him, reasonable, b u t to extend the exemptions to 'exceptional, inevitable and irresistible natural p h e n o m e n a ' would, because they are difficult to define, provide unwarranted loopholes. Lord D r u m a l b y n opposing the a m e n d m e n t , emphasised again that the main purpose of the bill is to ratify the international convention and that it would be difficult to alter the limits of
if ships were required to obtain special certificates from the Secretary of State before entering port; first it would be physically difficult to get the certificates on board each time the ship approached port and second, other convention countries might also insist on issuing certificates and an awkwardly complex situation would arise. Lord Kennet maintained, however, that his a m e n d m e n t would only inconvel3ience the ship owners whose ships were registered in non-convention countries and that it could only, therefore, aid the cause of the bill. Lord Drumalbyn promised to consider the point and, accordingly, Lord Kennet did not press the amendment. Oil in Navigable Waters Biii On the same day, the House of Lords, again in committee, considered a further a m e n d m e n t to the Oil in Navigable Waters Bill. One of the conventions signed in Brussels in 1969, which the British government has now ratified b u t which is not yet in force, deals with intervention on the high seas in cases of oil pollution, but there is no convention to cover British territorial %aters. This gap in the proposed legislation was highlighted by the Pacific Glory. incident last year, one week before the second reading of the bill in the House of Commons. A new clause, introduced by Lord Sandford, would give the government additional powers to direct o~aers and salvors of damaged ships within UK territorial waters to take action to avoid pollution, or if necessary, to take action itself. Failure to comply with the directions of the government would incur the £50,000 penalty on summary conviction or a fine without limit on indictment, the same p u n i s h m e n t as that for wilful discharge of oil. The new clause, said Lord Sandford, would give the government extensive powers b e y o n d the mere ratification of the international convention, b u t he hoped that, as in the case of the Pacific Glory incident, coop~raxion of the responsible parties would make the additional powers unnecessary. He did not believe, however, that such cooperation would always be so forthcoming. The amendment was agreed to.
FORTHCOMING
CONFERENCES
Colloquium on Environmental Pollution, organized by the European Institute for Advanced International Study, University of Nice, will be held at Nice, France,,on 12 May or 19 May and will last for 3 days. The Eighth World Petroleum Congress will be held in Moscow on 13-19 J u n e 1971. Information can be obtained from Wallace N. Seward, Secretary. of the US National Committee for the World Petroleum Congress, c/o the American Petroleum Institute, 1271 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y. 10020, USA. A four-day Symposium on the identification and measurement of environmental pollutants will be held in Ottawa, starting 14 J u n e 1971. It is sponsored by the Association of Official Analytical Chemists, IUPAC, Chemical Institute of Canada, Agricultural Institute of Canada, and the National Research Council of Canada. Further information can be obtained from Mr M. K. Ward, Executive Secretary, ISIMEP, National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa 7, Ontario, Canada. The Second Pacem in Maribus conference on Pollution in the Mediterranean will be held at the Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions, Malta, on 29 J u n e for 7 days. Information can be obtained from the Second Pacem in Maribus Conference, Box 4068, Santa Barbara, California 93103, USA.
1971 Macmillan (,aTournals) Limited Printed in Great Britain by Robert 3,lacLehose & Co Lid, 7-~c Uni~,ersi.7; Press, Glasgow.