THE CAMPAIGN GROUP behind attempts to halt the establishment of ship-to-ship oil transfers on the Moray Firth has written to regional and local MPs and MSPs seeking their support.
Cromarty Rising has gathered a growing number of Moray residents to their cause, sparked by fears that the establishment of such a facility by the Cromarty Firth Port Authority would endanger the resident dolphin population and the growing number of Whales visiting the Moray Firth.
The letter issued by the campaign this week draws attention to the catastrophic loss of whales in New Zealand, pointing out that even with all the scientific knowledge that exists it is not known just why Whales beach themselves in such large numbers.
Appealing to MSP’s for support, the letter says: “Please help to save bottlenose dolphins and the other cetaceans here in the Scottish Highlands from risks we don’t fully understand.
“This humpback was in the Moray Firth recently, passing through exactly where plans exist for tankers want to transfer eight million tonnes of crude oil, bringing acoustic disturbance and goodness knows how much confusion from tugs, propellers and noisy crude oil pumps.
“Before long someone is going to make a mistake with this. When that happens big business profits may suffer but more importantly the environment will suffer and so too the people and the wildlife that depend on it.
“We can get by without doing this – there are existing oil tanker terminals which have been working safely for years.”
A petition raised by the campaign hopes to reach the 100,000 signatures required to request a debate on the issue at Westminster.