Policy background Part 13: Offshore Wind Electricity Generation, Oil and Gas Offshore Oil and Gas (Habitats and Arrangements for Responding to Marine Oil Pollution)
The Act provides powers to ensure that the offshore oil and gas environmental regulatory regime remains fit for purpose by allowing the future introduction of changes through secondary legislation. The delegated powers would ensure that the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero is able to adequately: (i) respond to changes in policy delivery required to meet the challenges of achieving net zero, including extending regulatory regimes for habitats assessment and emergency oil pollution planning and response to new offshore activities, such as hydrogen production and storage; (ii) implement changes, resulting from any future court judgments; and (iii) implement lessons learned from any future offshore incident.