Environment Report 2016

ENVIRONMENT REPORT 2016

Chemical Classification CEFAS uses the Chemical Hazard and Risk Management (CHARM) 63 model to rank offshore chemicals according to their calculated hazard quotients (the ratio of Predicted Environmental Concentration (PEC) 64 to Predicted No Effect Concentration (PNEC) 65 ). Inorganic and organic chemicals with functions for which the CHARM model has no algorithms are ranked using the CEFAS OCNS hazard groups 66 . With these tools, operators can assess the likely effect of discharging specific chemicals into the marine environment and employ management methods to minimise environmental risk while maintaining operational performance. Components PLONOR The PLONOR category includes all those products for which PON1s were submitted that have been assigned PLONOR (Pose Little Or NO Risk) status by BEIS. Low The Low Hazard category includes OCNS groups D and E, gold and silver as the lowest ecotoxicity groupings. This excludes products that have official PLONOR rankings. Medium The Medium Hazard category includes OCNS groups B and C as medium ecotoxicity groupings. High The High Hazard category includes OCNS group A, as the highest ecotoxicity grouping. The Norwegian authorities use an alternative classification system for chemical discharges on the Norwegian Continental Shelf 67 . TheNorwegian categories are: green (chemicals considered to have no or limited environmental impact); yellow (chemicals in use but not covered by the other categories); red (chemicals that are environmentally hazardous and should be replaced); and black (chemicals prohibited for discharge except under special permits). Green and yellow chemicals can be discharged without specific conditions while red chemicals must have a permit. Based on these definitions, it is reasonable to equate green with PLONOR and red with SUB. Yellow and black chemicals cannot be equated to UKCS categories. 7.2 Atmospheric Emissions Regulatory Landscape Atmospheric emissions from the offshore oil and gas industry are controlled by several pieces of legislation that require operators to undertake emissions monitoring, reporting and management measures. There are over 20 atmospherics-related European legal instruments that are applicable to various different sites in the oil and gas industry. Atmospheric emissions must be reported to BEIS through EEMS. These data are based on calculations and direct measurements derived from emissions monitoring carried out in accordance with each relevant scheme. BEIS then uses the EEMS data for its reporting requirements for a number of international conventions and EU legislation. 63 See http://bit.ly/CHARM16 64 PEC is an indication of the expected concentration of a material in the environment. It considers the amount initially present in the environment, its distribution and rates of degradation and removal, either forced or natural. 65 PNEC represents the concentration below which exposure to a substance is not expected to cause adverse effects to species in the environment. 66 This hazard ranking system does not take into account the mass of the releases and therefore is not a measure of risk to the environment. 67 These categories are detailed in the Norske Olje & Gass 2014 Environmental Report available at http://bit.ly/NOGenvironmental Hazard Ranking Unattributable The remaining category includes all of those products for which sufficient description is not given and therefore they cannot be categorised in this model.

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