Offshore Oil and Gas Development in the Arctic under International Law: Risk and Responsibility

Copyright

Dedication

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

Table of Acronyms

Table of Cases

Table of Treaties

PART 1: Arctic Offshore Hydrocarbons and International Environmental Law

1 Introduction

1.1 Governance, Development and the Right to Development

1.2 A Legal Approach

1.3 Outline of the Book

2 Drilling in the Arctic

2.1. Defining the Arctic

2.2 Offshore Hydrocarbon Resources

2.3 Vulnerability in the Arctic

2.4 Time

3 Identifying International Environmental Law

3.1 Sources of Law

3.2 Legal Norms

PART 2: The Obligations of States to Protect the Arctic Marine Environment

4 The Right to Resources and the No Harm Principle

4.1 Permanent Sovereignty over Natural Resources and the Right to Exploit Them

4.2 The No Harm Principle

4.3 Rights to Resources on the Continental Shelf

4.4 Duties to Protect and Preserve the Marine Environment

4.5 A New Instrument for the Arctic Eight?

4.6 Striking the Balance between the Right to Exploit Resources and the No Harm Principle

5 Human Rights and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

5.1 Protecting the Environment through a Human Rights Lens

5.2 Human Rights in the Marine Arctic

5.3 Relevant Instruments, their Mechanisms and Status

5.4 The Rights of Indigenous Peoples with respect to Offshore Oil and Gas

5.5 Human Rights and Offshore Oil and Gas

5.6 Transboundary Human Rights Claims

5.7 Observations on Indigenous and Human Rights with respect to Offshore Hydrocarbon Activities in the Marine Arctic

6 Caution and Precaution

6.1 The Content of the Precautionary Approach

6.2 The Relationship between Prevention and Precaution

6.3 The Contemporary Status of the Precautionary Approach

6.4 Core Elements of the Precautionary Approach

6.5 Observations on the Precautionary Approach for Hydrocarbon Activities in the Marine Arctic

7 The Environmental Impact Assessment

7.1 EIA and TEIA Frameworks of Potential Application in the Marine Arctic

7.2 A Minimum Core for an Internationally Acceptable EIA for Hydrocarbon Activities in the Marine Arctic

7.3 Implications of the EIA or the Failure to Conduct it Properly

7.4 Observations on the EIA for Hydrocarbon Activities in the Marine Arctic

8 Monitoring and Follow-Up

8.1 The Duty to Monitor Environmental Impacts

8.2 Human Rights Monitoring

8.3 Observations on Monitoring and Follow-up of Impacts from Hydrocarbon Activities in the Marine Arctic

PART 3: Responsibility and Liability

9 Legal Consequences of Failures to Protect the Environment

10 State Responsibility for Wrongful Conduct

10.1 For Whose Conduct does the State Bear Responsibility?

10.2 For What Conduct does the State Bear Responsibility?

10.3 To Whom does the State Bear Responsibility?

10.4 What are the Consequences of State Responsibility in International Environmental Law?

10.5 Observations on State Responsibility for Hydrocarbon Activities in the Marine Arctic

11 Liability for Damage in the Absence of a State’s Wrongful Conduct

11.1 Treaty-Based Civil Liability Regimes

11.2 Who is Liable for Environmental Damage?

11.3 For What is the Operator Liable?

11.4 To Whom is Reparation Owed?

11.5 What are the Consequences of International Liability?

11.6 Observations on Liability for Hydrocarbon Activities in the Marine Arctic

PART 4: Conclusions

12 The Extent and Limitations of International Law in the Marine Arctic

12.1 The No Harm Principle

12.2 Responsibility and Liability

12.3 Final Observations

Bibliography

Index