There was no objection in the Dunbar Hall on Wednesday evening (14th December) to the suggestion that Auldearn CC support the campaign against S2S in the Moray Firth however there wasn't a full complement of Councillors present so the decision will have to be ratified at the next meeting. The minute read:
"It
was brought to the Community Council’s attention in November of the
Cromarty Firth Port Authority’s application for a licence to carry
out ship-to-ship oil transfers in an area of the Moray Firth to the
south of the Sutors.
Any oil transfers undertaken have, up to
date , been ship-to-shore transfers at the oil terminal at Nigg, and
of substantially lower volume than that now proposed.
The
number of transfers in the application is stated at 48 per year,
which would see a total volume of oil processed at over 8.5 million
tons, plus scope for over 2 million tonnes of ballast water to be
discharged into the Firth per annum.
The
application did not come to the Community Council’s attention as
the port authority do not consider Community Council’s on the south
side of the Moray Firth as statutory consultees, so we weren’t
informed.
Part
of our area includes the Nairn Bar and the tidal flats to the
landward of it, which are afforded Special Area of Conservancy (SAC)
and Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) status.
Anything
that could possibly prejudice these protected areas and the Moray
Firth at large is of concern, and these sentiments were echoed from
the floor, unanimously.
Points
were raised about the potential for even minor spillages to cause
damage to the protected seabird and cetacean species and that, with
several large tankers likely to be anchored at any time, the already
audible low frequency drone of their generators would become much
more pronounced.
There
was no objection from the floor to the proposal that Auldearn
Community should voice its opposition to these proposals."
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