Scientific research, highlighted by the recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, proves we must dramatically reduce our carbon emissions. To extract oil from new sites risks a spill which would destroy the local tourist economy and the protected ecology within the bay.
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In 2018, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy approved licence P1918 for exploratory drilling into the Colter prospect in the Wessex Basin. The site lies between Bournemouth beach and England's only natural World Heritage Site. Permission will now be sought to extract oil, either by further vertical offshore drilling, or horizontal extended reach drilling.
The site is on the edge of a Marine Conservation Zone, home to protected seahorses, which it is an offence to disturb.