Shell and Cairn Energy were accused of “extraordinary complacency” by MPs over their Arctic drilling programmes. Executives from the two companies appeared before the Environmental Audit Committee to explain their emergency response to any spill.
Caroline Lucas, the Green Party MP, said that Shell and Cairn were “unable to demonstrate the rigour” of how their clean-up plans would work in such extreme conditions. The companies admitted that they had not calculated the financial cost of any response. Cairn pointed out that its response plan was approved by the governments of Denmark, Greenland and Iceland. Shell described its plan as unprecedently thorough.