From Alex Milne
Newcastle upon Tyne
Norwegian concern about acid rain from ships’ fuel is fascinating but
entirely misplaced (This Week, 22 June, p
4). Where does Norway think the oil
comes from? Norwegians consume about 8 tonnes of oil and its equivalent in
products derived from it per head of population—among the highest in the
world. They also export 16 tonnes of oil per head, complete with the sulphur,
which ends up in the heavy fuel oil used in ships. This makes the
Norwegians, in
spite of the fact that their oil is rather low-sulphur crude, among the worst
per capita polluters in the world.
The answer is clear: the Norwegians must remove the sulphur at source. This
would make far more sense than retrofitted flue-gas desulphurisation, which is
one of the most expensive options.
One of the things that this demonstrates is the nonsense of the “polluter
pays” principle. It does not matter whether the polluter is defined as the
oil-producer or the electricity generator. The cost is added to the price
of the
end product. It is the final customer who pays, you and I, but it is a
convenient fudge for single-issue campaigning groups to forget this, and even
otherwise sane and sensible politicians like Tam Dalyell
(Thistle Diary, 8 June, p 50) manage to
overlook it.
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