Major concerns over oil project

SOMETIME this year, a decision will be made regarding the licensing of ship-to-ship transfers of crude petroleum on an industrial scale in the Firth of Forth. Though Scotland faces a barrage of environmental issues that must be resolved - from building the Highland electricity transmission line to approving wind farms - the most urgent is the use of the Forth for oil operations.

Scotland is not new to the oil business or its risks, from the Piper Alpha disaster to the blowout in the Ekofisk field, which leaked 81 million gallons of crude into the North Sea. By and large, the industry has been safety conscious and the risks h...