Clause 85 - Exploitation of areas outside the territorial sea for energy production
Energy Bill [Lords]
11:00 am
Mrs Anne McIntosh (Shadow Minister, Environment & Transport; Vale of York, Conservative)
I shall reserve my comments on the UN convention on the law of the sea to the clause stand part debate. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge on his attempt, to which I hope he returns, to introduce a Bill on the marine environment. My initial reaction to the amendment is that the issue is so important that it should be covered by separate legislation. In the clause 84 stand part debate, I mentioned that little regard is paid by the Department to other interests and referred specifically to ship owners. Sustainable development of the marine environment is important, so it will be interesting to see what regard the Department pays to it.
The amendment draws attention to the fact that, although the Department of Trade and Industry is the lead Department on energy, other interests germane to the Departments for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and for Transport, such as shipping, have not been paid sufficient regard to. The marine environment is so important that I hope my hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge succeeds in introducing a Bill to deal with it in detail.