Tuesday 21 November : 1.00 pm – 2.15 pm
ENVIRONMENTAL PERSPECTIVES TO DECOMMISSIONING
The session will focus on what is being done within the environmental space and if we can work together to ensure, if needed more can be done.
Speakers and Panellists
Ricky Thomson
Decommissioning Manager
Offshore Energies UK
Richard (Ricky) Thomson joined OEUK as Decommissioning Manager in April 2022. He leads the OEUK’s focus on decommissioning, taking an action-orientated approach to communicating the voice of the UK’s offshore energies decommissioning sector.
Ricky joined OEUK from Houston where he was Project Manager / Decommissioning Manager for OXY Gulf of Mexico as well as a consultant for OXY’s Low Carbon Venture / Enhanced Oil Recovery work. He has 20 years’ experience in the energy sector in multiple leadership, management, and technical roles for both operating and contracting companies worldwide. Ricky has worked in a multitude of global locations including Middle East, United Kingdom, Australia, America and South East Asia.
Ricky is a Chartered Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) and recently held the post of Chairman of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers in Texas. He is also a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute (CMI).
Dickon Howell
INSITE Programme Director
Howell Marine Consulting
Dickon is Director and founder of HMC, visiting Professor of Practice at Newcastle University, and the Programme Director for the INSITE Programme. Dickon has worked across areas such as marine conservation, offshore wind, oil and gas decommissioning, marine minerals, fisheries, marine planning, and marine consenting. Prior to his current role he was at the Marine Management Organisation, where he held positions as Chief Scientific Advisor, Director of Marine Development and Head of Marine Licensing.
Elspeth Macdonald
Chief Executive and Secretary of the Executive Committee
Scottish Fishermen’s Federation
I was appointed as Chief Executive of both SFF and SFF Services in August 2019, following almost 30 years in the public sector. Growing up in a small fishing community on Mull in Scotland’s Inner Hebrides, fishing was always part of the fabric of my daily life.
I was previously deputy Chief Executive at Food Standards Scotland, leading its work on strategy and policy, and am a science graduate of Stirling and Aberdeen universities. In my spare time, you’ll mostly find me outside – running, riding, or generally stomping around Deeside.
David Santillo
Senior Scientist
Greenpeace
Dr David Santillo is a marine and freshwater biologist and analytical chemist who has worked at the Greenpeace Research Laboratories, based at the University of Exeter, for almost 30 years. For much of that time, David has represented Greenpeace at meetings of the OSPAR Commission, including within the Offshore Industry Committee, addressing both technical and policy questions relating to decommissioning, as well as oil discharges, offshore chemicals and other related issues. David also represents Greenpeace in meetings under the London Convention - London Protocol, which regulates the dumping (including abandonment) of wastes or other matter at sea on a more global basis.
Emma Clarkson
Ecosystem Resources Program Director
Texas Parks and Wildlife Department
Emma Clarkson is the Ecosystem Resources Program Director in the Coastal Fisheries Division of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Her office is in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Ms. Clarkson received her B.S. in Biology from the University of Mary Washington in Virginia in 2009, her M.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Houston Clear Lake in 2012, and her PhD in Marine Biology from Texas A&M - Corpus Christi in 2021.
She began her career working with freshwater macroinvertebrates and terrestrial botany, and shifted to coastal ecology during graduate school, where she worked with the Diamondback Terrapin and estuarine icthyofauna . She worked as a fisheries biologist with the Aransas Bay Fisheries Management team at TPWD for several years, and served as the Habitat Assessment Team Lead for 6 years. As Program Director, she now oversees all coastal restoration done by the Coastal Fisheries Division, including the Texas Artificial Reef Program. She also coordinates the Division’s environmental review and technical guidance for coastal projects. Through her career at TPWD, she has had the opportunity to engage in several key issues, such as the development of a new habitat mapping team, the development of the Oyster Mariculture Program, the development of a new Restoration team, the management of oyster resources, and overseeing the design and execution of oyster restoration and Artificial Reefing projects.