3 On Moral Failures in Dealing with Environmental Issues: The Europipe Experience
17
those politicians who drew up the boundaries of the Wadden Sea National Park and
formulated the park regulations. Not that the idea of a national park was misguided. It
was the proclamation of the entire Wadden Sea coast (only excluding the shipping lanes
of the Ems, Jade, Weser, and Elbe river estuaries) as a national park which was ill advised and shortsighted. By forgetting or being unwilling to reserve a corridor for economic activities outside of shipping lanes (e.g. for the construction of a gas pipeline),
the politicians concerned inevitably and predictably laid the foundation for future conflicts.
It is not the purpose of this chapter to discuss the ethics of routing a pipeline through
a national park. The fact is that the pipeline was constructed through the park. The position taken here is that such action may be acceptable if the intervention is spatially restricted and of short duration, leaves no tangible trace after completion, represents a
local and reversible disturbance of the ecosystem (perturbation), precludes viable 'alternative routes, and is of substantial national interest. It can be argued that in the case of
Europipe all these crucial prerequisites were fulfilled without any serious reservations.
3.2.2
Moral Failure of the Pipeline Operator
The predicament caused by the all-inclusive park boundaries was then compounded
by the manner in which the project was initially publicised by the pipeline operator, the
Norwegian State Oil Company (Statoil). By failing to promote an image of environmental awareness and to give environmental considerations a high priority from the start,
Statoil precipitated immediate and outright rejection by radical environmental groups
whose political punch was evidently neglected or grossly underestimated. Although
Statoil took great pains in rectifying the situation, the company was not able to restore
its credibility in environmental consciousness, at least not for the duration of the project.
Thus, because ethical considerations were neglected, a simple tactical mistake resulted
in the breakdown of rational discussion based on objective arguments and scientific
facts. An ironic twist in this unfortunate turn of events is the subsequent abuse by the
media of an inoffensive and well-meant cartoon produced by Statoil itself in which a
friendly Troll brings the life-supporting oil pipeline ashore (Fig. 3.2). Trolls are giant
spirits of the earth in Nordic mythology who are commonly associated with large-scale
natural phenomena (cf. Grappin 1965). As shown in Sect. 3.2.6, this figure was transformed into a polemic anti-Europipe caricature by the local press.
3.2.3
Moral Failure of the Environmentalists
The political decision to route the pipeline through an ebb delta, inlet and channel
system of the Wadden Sea, instead of landing it on the barrier island with the shortest
tidal watershed (Norderney), was taken after years of massive anti-pipeline campaigns
by environmentalists. These campaigns were characterized by the wilful violation of
ethical principles, accompanied by a corruption of moral standards along the whole
way. Distortion of facts, gross exaggerations, and scientifically unsupported claims, in
particular, mark the confrontation. Public (and official) opinion was manipulated by
statements which, amongst others, claimed that the Wadden Sea ecosystem would be
17
those politicians who drew up the boundaries of the Wadden Sea National Park and
formulated the park regulations. Not that the idea of a national park was misguided. It
was the proclamation of the entire Wadden Sea coast (only excluding the shipping lanes
of the Ems, Jade, Weser, and Elbe river estuaries) as a national park which was ill advised and shortsighted. By forgetting or being unwilling to reserve a corridor for economic activities outside of shipping lanes (e.g. for the construction of a gas pipeline),
the politicians concerned inevitably and predictably laid the foundation for future conflicts.
It is not the purpose of this chapter to discuss the ethics of routing a pipeline through
a national park. The fact is that the pipeline was constructed through the park. The position taken here is that such action may be acceptable if the intervention is spatially restricted and of short duration, leaves no tangible trace after completion, represents a
local and reversible disturbance of the ecosystem (perturbation), precludes viable 'alternative routes, and is of substantial national interest. It can be argued that in the case of
Europipe all these crucial prerequisites were fulfilled without any serious reservations.
3.2.2
Moral Failure of the Pipeline Operator
The predicament caused by the all-inclusive park boundaries was then compounded
by the manner in which the project was initially publicised by the pipeline operator, the
Norwegian State Oil Company (Statoil). By failing to promote an image of environmental awareness and to give environmental considerations a high priority from the start,
Statoil precipitated immediate and outright rejection by radical environmental groups
whose political punch was evidently neglected or grossly underestimated. Although
Statoil took great pains in rectifying the situation, the company was not able to restore
its credibility in environmental consciousness, at least not for the duration of the project.
Thus, because ethical considerations were neglected, a simple tactical mistake resulted
in the breakdown of rational discussion based on objective arguments and scientific
facts. An ironic twist in this unfortunate turn of events is the subsequent abuse by the
media of an inoffensive and well-meant cartoon produced by Statoil itself in which a
friendly Troll brings the life-supporting oil pipeline ashore (Fig. 3.2). Trolls are giant
spirits of the earth in Nordic mythology who are commonly associated with large-scale
natural phenomena (cf. Grappin 1965). As shown in Sect. 3.2.6, this figure was transformed into a polemic anti-Europipe caricature by the local press.
3.2.3
Moral Failure of the Environmentalists
The political decision to route the pipeline through an ebb delta, inlet and channel
system of the Wadden Sea, instead of landing it on the barrier island with the shortest
tidal watershed (Norderney), was taken after years of massive anti-pipeline campaigns
by environmentalists. These campaigns were characterized by the wilful violation of
ethical principles, accompanied by a corruption of moral standards along the whole
way. Distortion of facts, gross exaggerations, and scientifically unsupported claims, in
particular, mark the confrontation. Public (and official) opinion was manipulated by
statements which, amongst others, claimed that the Wadden Sea ecosystem would be