![\"Inverness](\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/sussexenergygroup\/files\/2014\/03\/inverness-airport-2.jpg?resize=300%2C134\")
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\u201c\u00c0<\/i>rd-amas airson l<\/i>\u00f9tha\u201d:<\/i> \u201cAmbitious about energy\u201d. This is the message that greets arriving passengers at Inverness Airport in the highlands of Scotland. The message occupies an entire wall of the main lounge and also explains, \u201cthe world\u2019s best resources for wind, wave, and tidal power are here in the highlands and islands\u201d. Observations regarding the ironies of sustainability-based salutations occupying walls of airports to be ogled by frequent flyers aside, these lines are worthy of reflection. For a start, witnessing such a domineering advert whilst the newspaper under your arm is stuffed with stories recounting the inevitable return of North Sea Oil and gas as the hot topic of the Scottish Independence debate, at least provided a timely reminder of the defining role energy policy has played – and continues to play, in the back-and-forth over the potential break up of a United Kingdom.<\/p>\n
As Ronald Kowalski discusses<\/a>, in 1974 \u00a0there was a resurgence of Scottish national identity, bolstered by the fact that the football team were performing well in the World Cup competition in West Germany. More powerful than this though, was the steep decline of the coal and steel industry<\/a> between 1970-1974 orchestrated by the Heath Government. This period of destabilisation which had profound socio-economic ramifications for the East end of Glasgow \u2013 consequences still felt today, was met with protests and work-ins against the closures.<\/p>\n This drove many to search for political alternatives to policies coordinated from Westminster. Two years before, the Scottish National Party (SNP) oriented itself around a simple concept: \u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s Scotland\u2019s Oil\u201d. This built on strong sentiments that financial flows generated from the oil-exploitation of the North Sea appeared to bypass several latitudinous degrees as they headed southward. The 1973 oil crisis made the North Sea Oil issue even more significant.<\/p>\n In the 1970 general election the SNP polled just 11.5% of the vote. By 1974, this had risen to 30.4% of the vote<\/a>. BP had discovered the \u2018Giant forties\u2019 oil field in the North Sea and a rush for the \u2018Black Gold\u2019 was spurred by the Oil Crisis of 1973. Revealed decades later by a Freedom of Information (FoI) request made in 2005<\/a>, was that the known extent of Oil and Gas in the North Sea, and the vastness of revenues that could be generated from exploiting these resources, were deliberately hushed up. It sounds like the stuff of wild conspiracy, but the originally classified documentation known as the McCrone Report<\/a> is now freely available.<\/p>\n The 19-page document outlined that potential revenues of North Sea Oil could be vast. The consequences of this were also outlined, the report stating that an independent Scotland in control of these assets could make a Scottish currency the strongest in Europe on par with Norway, Scotland could be as rich as Switzerland, and would be in a position to lend to England, a situation it was claimed, \u201ccould last for a very long time\u201d. The McCrone report was classified and not seen for decades. Given the rise of Scottish Independence, the publishing of the report could easily have transformed the entire history of the UK. Independence would have been a far more attractive and feasible prospect. The true extent of North Sea Oil and gas reserves were not admitted until later, by which time the fervour for independence had died down.<\/p>\n Bridge et al in an Energy Policy article on the \u2018Geographies of Energy transition\u2019<\/a>, outline that \u201c\u2026the territorialisation of the UK is an unsettled project that is on-going and contested\u201d (Bridge et al, 2013: 336). In recent weeks as the referendum on Scottish independence approaches, North Sea Oil has once again provided the terrain for some of the more bitter disputes<\/a> between the Alex Salmond-led SNP and the Westminster Coalition. Recent plans have been announced to \u2018fast-track\u2019<\/a> drilling for the remaining supplies of North Sea Oil. Salmond has outlined the creation of a \u00a0\u2018Norwegian style\u2019 approach to North Sea resources in an independent Scotland, including an \u2018Oil Fund\u2019, where 10% of revenues are set aside for future generations, which could total around \u00a310 billion pounds a year for the remaining decades of production. David Cameron however, argued that given the unstable and fluctuating nature of Oil Markets, remaining resources could be better managed by the \u201cbroad shoulders\u201d of a United Kingdom. These announcements were made within a few miles of one another in Aberdeenshire, the heartland of the UK\u2019s oil industry.<\/p>\n Then there is the environmental issue. As Andy Rowell points out<\/a>, it may be that carbon reserves could increasingly be seen as liabilities rather than assets, as the climate change issue becomes increasingly a more serious one. Thus, he argues, North Sea Oil could become a \u2018stranded asset\u2019. However, there is another side to the SNP energy strategy. They have committed to discontinuing nuclear power<\/a> in Scotland which may prove challenging.\u00a0 This strong direction has however created new innovative drives on the renewables front, with an ambition of 100% renewables by 2020<\/a>. Scotland appears to be charging ahead with this aim, with 40% of electricity consumption met by the renewables sector in 2012<\/a>. This was \u201csignificantly higher\u201d than the rest of the UK, and anyone that has holidayed in Scotland will be aware of the immense availability and potential for the development of wind energy.<\/p>\n Taking a \u2018Varieties of capitalism\u2019<\/a> approach of Soskice and Hall (2001) the devolved Scottish Government seems to be taking a more \u2018coordinated\u2019 approach regarding policy implementation, especially in relation to its low carbon ambitions. Policy direction has been articulated in an attempt to make Scotland the \u201cSaudi Arabia of renewables<\/a>.\u201d This entails being industry leaders in wind, wave and tidal, and a variety of projects, \u2018test labs\u2019 and innovation hubs<\/a> have emerged to meet this aim.<\/p>\n It\u2019s been a while coming, but once again energy dominates the Scottish independence debate in a variety of ways. What remains to be seen is whether Scotland continues to be \u201cambitious\u201d about a low carbon transition, or whether important funds are devoted to the increasing expenses of draining the \u201cblack gold\u201d to its last drop.<\/p>\n Dr Phillip Johnstone<\/a> is a Research Fellow at\u00a0 the Sussex Energy Group <\/a>in SPRU<\/a> at the University of Sussex<\/a>.<\/p>\nFollow Sussex Energy Group \u201c\u00c0rd-amas airson l\u00f9tha\u201d: \u201cAmbitious about energy\u201d. This is the message that greets arriving passengers at Inverness Airport in the highlands of Scotland. The message occupies an entire wall of the main lounge and also explains, \u201cthe world\u2019s best resources for…<\/span><\/p>\n![\"North](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/sussexenergygroup\/files\/2014\/03\/north-sea-oil-rig-014-2.jpg\")
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