The Offshore Petroleum Production and Pipe-lines (Assessment of Environmental Effects) Regulations 1999

Provision to Secretary of State of further information and evidence respecting environmental statements

10.—(1) The Secretary of State may by notice require an undertaker to provide in respect of an environmental statement provided to him pursuant to these Regulations such further information as the Secretary of State may require, including evidence in support of any information in that statement.

(2) Where the Secretary of State is of the opinion that information provided pursuant to a requirement imposed under paragraph (1) above ought to have been included in the environmental statement in question, he shall in writing direct the undertaker to–

(a) serve that information on any environmental authority on which the environmental statement was required to be served pursuant to regulation 9(2)(a)(ii) above together with a notice referring to the material previously served on that authority and stating that further representations may be made to the Secretary of State by a date specified in that notice which shall be at least 4 weeks after the date on which the information and notice were served on that authority;

(b) notify the Secretary of State of the name of every authority served with the information and notice referred to in sub-paragraph (a) above and the date of such service;

(c) make available to the public the application for consent, the environmental statement and the information referred to in sub-paragraph (a) above in the same way as the application and environmental statement were previously made available for the period of 4 weeks immediately following the publication (or last publication) of the notice referred to in sub-paragraph (d) below; and

(d) publish in such newspapers on such occasions as to be likely to come to the attention of those likely to be interested in, or affected by, the relevant project, a notice which–

(i) refers to the previous notice in respect of the application and environmental statement and states that further information is available in respect of the relevant project;

(ii) gives the address at which a copy of the application for consent and environmental statement and further information may be inspected;

(iii) states where a copy of the environmental statement and the additional information may be obtained and, subject to regulation 9(4) above (maximum payment for copy of environmental statement), specifies the amount of any payment required to be tendered for the copy; and

(iv) states a date not less than 4 weeks after the date on which the notice is to be published (or last published) by which any person may make representations in relation to the application in question to the Secretary of State and specifies the address to which any such representations are to be sent.

(3) The undertaker shall provide to the Secretary of State copies of the newspapers in which the notice referred to in paragraph (2)(d) above appeared.