Introduction
The discovery and development of oil in the East Shetland
Basin in the early 1970s offered a challenging new prospect. Shetlanders,
together with the oil industry, set about managing the development
in a way which would demonstrate their awareness of its significance.
It was not just the potential environmental impact of the oil discoveries,
but also the wider consequences, both social and economic, for a
way of life based on fishing, crofting and knitting, and tourism,
which were deemed to be in harmony with the environment.
The Zetland County Council (ZCC) - now the Shetland
Islands Council (SIC) - recognised the potential effects of the
discovery firstly of the Brent Field and later the Ninian Field
for the economy and the environment of the islands. In 1972, ZCC
promoted an exceptional Bill in parliament, the Zetland County Council
Act, which became law in 1974. This gave the Council considerable
control over developments in and around the islands. The Council
also appointed consultants to advise on the location of a suitable
site for oil export, with a deepwater approach and anchorage, pipeline
landfalls and overland pipeline wayleaves. The Council's objective
was to prevent the proliferation of oil-related installations and
to identify the area, or areas, where the environmental impact would
be minimal. As a result of this work, Calback Ness in Sullom Voe
was selected for the terminal. Participants in the Brent and Ninian
discoveries were directed to this area on a common-user basis.
A legal framework for the developments was thus established
by the ZCC. It was then the turn of the oil industry to make
its contribution. In mid 1974 a group from British Petroleum
(BP), together with independent university experts, discussed
with the Council a proposal to set up a forum to provide advice
on the environmental aspects of the development. The Council
agreed the proposal and the Sullom Voe Environmental Advisory
Group (SVEAG) was soon established.
The ground work having been done by the Council and
its consultants and development having just begun, SVEAG began to
prepare an Environmental Impact Assessment. This was, at that time,
a novel approach and very wide-ranging in its scope. This assessment
is now recognised as a planning landmark but, unlike some current
assessments, the SVEAG assessment did not involve consideration
of alternative sites.
The SVEAG assessment of the environment of Shetland
was based upon a review of the existing literature, consultations
with a wide range of experts, and on field work, with the initial
objective of relating the plans for the terminal to the existing
conditions at Sullom Voe. Because site preparation was underway,
there were immediate impacts to be considered and operational and
planning decisions to be made in the context of what was then known
of the environmental and ecological conditions. A particular unique
problem, for example, was how to dispose of five million cubic metres
of peat and six million cubic metres of rocky sub-soil.
SVEAG compiled a comprehensive description of a wide
range of habitats, such as rocky shores, soft shores, salt marshes,
seabed and the sea. In view of the special significance of seabirds
they were also included in the studies. A critical element was an
assessment of the most vulnerable areas to the proposed developments.
This early work provided the baseline information from which future
and continuing environmental monitoring programmes developed. SVEAG
also did much useful work on commenting on the technical and environmental
aspects of planning applications during the development of the terminal.
By 1976 the Council decided that the organisation
of SVEAG was not the most appropriate and greater emphasis on its
independent nature was needed. It was disbanded, but the important
work of collecting baseline information continued. After a gap of
almost a year, both Industry and Council agreed that a forum to
replace SVEAG was needed and set up the Shetland Oil Terminal Environmental
Advisory Group (SOTEAG) with a revised constitution and an independent
Chairman and Secretary: the membership was broadened and Shetland
representation was increased (see Box 1).
By this time, SIC and the Brent and Ninian Pipeline
Groups had become equal partners in the Sullom Voe Association (SVA)
Limited, a company responsible for the policy relating to the design,
construction, operation and maintenance of the oil terminal. SOTEAG
reports to, and is funded by, SVA Ltd. Recognising the critical
importance of continuing environmental monitoring, SOTEAG set up
a group of scientific experts to devise and manage an extensive
monitoring programme carried out under contract by universities
and other scientific institutions. This Monitoring Committee (see
Box 2) interprets the results and reports its conclusions to
SOTEAG. After careful evaluation, SOTEAG reports these results to
SVA Ltd. along with appropriate recommendations for action.
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