6.10.1. Ship-based pollution:
It is not the EC but rather a number of international conventions that are important in the prevention of ship-based pollution. The most important is the MARPOL Convention of 1973/78, which regulates oils, chemicals, sewage and refuse. The Helsinki Convention of 1974 on the Baltic36 has also played a significant role in Denmark: Expectations were great when the other Baltic States signed the Convention, and the first Danish Marine Environment Protection Act from 1975 was markedly influenced by it. The Helsinki Convention covers the eastern part of Danish marine waters, while the western part is regulated by the 1972 Oslo Convention and the 1974 Paris Convention (both of which are European conventions), as well as by the 1972 London Convention (a global convention on dumping at sea).
In Danish waters, ship-based pollution is regulated by the Marine Environment Protection Act (Act 476 of 30 June 1993). The specific rules promulgated under the provisions of this Act cover oils, chemicals, sewage and refuse. To combat oil pollution there is a contingency unit comprising several large ships. Reception facilities are provided in Danish harbours for sewage and garbage.
Under the Marine Environment Protection Act dumping is as a rule forbidden. There is one exception, however, and one which is of considerable importance in practice. That is harbour sediment. In order that harbours can be used it is necessary to maintain and sometimes dredge the fairways. However, the dredged sediment is usually thoroughly polluted by old sewage discharges and by harbour activities. The dredged harbour sediment is dumped - after authorization has been granted - in marine areas where it is least likely to cause damage.
Ships that cause oil pollution in Danish open marine waters and then enter Danish harbours can expect to have to provide a guarantee to cover the clean-up expenses. In the case of other ships caught causing oil pollution, the question of payment is directed to the state whose flag the ship sails under. Correspondingly, since a great many ships sail under the Danish flag, Denmark receives quite a lot of enquiries from abroad on legal proceedings.
If the coast is polluted with oil, the Municipality has the responsibility to clean up. An agreement has been reached that the expenses for doing so are to be shared equally between the Municipality and the State.
Offshore drilling platforms have to have an individual authorization for their discharges.
In all events, strict liability for damages applies to pollution from ships, etc.
Progress on the regulation of ship-based pollution is difficult to assess. There is no clear tendency with respect to oil leaks, but there are still numerous incidents of illegal discharges (emptying and rinsing tanks, etc.). The Danish EPA contingency unit receives approx. 250 more or less well-founded reports of oil pollution each year, and the contingency unit’s ships have to go into action about 50 times per year.
Dumping has not taken place in Danish marine waters since 1983, and incineration at sea has never been permitted by the Danish authorities.
6.10.2. Land-based pollution:
In accordance with the Helsinki and Paris Conventions, requirements are also made to land-based discharges. Not all the recommendations made pursuant to these Conventions are fully realistic, however, and as a consequence they are not always complied with.
Land-based pollution is regulated by the Environmental Protection Act, as discussed in Sections 5.3.2 and 6.4 above.
Progress on the regulation of land-based discharges has not kept pace with the decisions made under the Conventions, the latter having proceeded too quickly. It was originally thought in Western countries that the Helsinki Convention was a means to get the East European countries to take steps to deal with pollution. Whether or not this is correct is open to question. Denmark has formerly been good at implementing recommendations made under the Conventions. However, after having taken on the task of trying to deal with the effects of agricultural pollution, neither Denmark nor other normally conscientious countries have been able to live up to the noble objectives, including that of a 50% reduction in marine N loading. In the case of certain substances, e.g. DDT and PCBs, there has been a marked reduction in their concentrations in the Baltic Sea (see Section 9.5.2).
6.10.3. Major bridge projects:
The two major bridge construction projects currently under way in Denmark, the Great Belt Fixed Link and the Øresund Fixed Link, have sparked considerable debate on whether the bridges will reduce the exchange of water between the Baltic Sea and the western marine waters. In the case of the Great Belt Fixed Link, compensatory excavations are expected to prevent the through-flow of water from being affected. In the case of the Øresund Fixed Link, it has become an absolute political requirement from the Swedish side that the project is designed in such a way that it has zero impact on water exchange with the Baltic Sea.
Construction of the Great Belt Fixed Link is well under way and is
expected to be complete in 1997. In the case of the Øresund Fixed Link the last
resistance has been overcome and the first construction contracts concerning the
coast-to-coast facility have been signed. The landworks on the Danish side are already
well underway. The link is planned to be complete in the year 2000.