Swimming in Oily Waters?

Shell have extracted oil and gas from the North Sea Brent oil field for more than 40 years. That company is now in the process of decomissioning its massive oil platforms. The UK government is deciding whether to allow Shell to leave the 170 M high oil platform legs in place. The legs have 64 concrete cells, 42 of which have been used for oil storage and separation. Each cell is the size of 7 Olympic swimming pools (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/26/uk-regulator-trying-block-release-shell-north-sea-documents). It's estimated that the platform leg cells contain circa 72,000 tonnes of contaminated sediment and 638,000 cubic metres of oily water. These present, of course, a real risk of marine contamination if they are left in place. Shell claim to have carried out studies on the pollution risk but environmentalists believe their tests are biased and totally inadequate. The North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA) is a body set up to ensure that decommissioning of North Sea platforms poses a minimal pollution risk. That body is, however, attempting to prevent the release (after Freedom of Information requests) of Shell's documents on decommissioning its platforms to concerned environmentalists. The NSTA may be biased at it has oil company folk sitting on it. It's been suggested that blocking the release of these documents is linked to the current UK government's keeness to maximise extraction of oil and gas from the virgin Rosebank field in the North Sea. Making decommissioning cheaper, increases the profits, encouraging petrochemical companies.