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30 J. Energy & Nat. Resources L. 185 (2012)
Environmental Regulation of Oil and Gas Exploration and Production in Uganda

handle is hein.journals/jenrl30 and id is 193 raw text is: 185 Environmental Regulation of Oil and Gas Exploration and Production in Uganda Emmanuel B Kasimbazi* This article focuses on the environmental regulation of oil and gas exploration and production in Uganda. Its objective is to examine the legal tools of the environmental management of petroleum exploration and production in Uganda. It begins by providing an overview of the process of oil exploration and production in relation to the Ugandan situation. The article proceeds by reviewing the status of oil exploration in Uganda. It identifies the potential environmental risks and dangers and examines the application of environmental impact assessment. It also reviews the legal and environmental standard requirements as provided under the policy and legal framework including those under the proposed Petroleum Bill. The article concludes by providing recommendations to address environment legal regulation concerns. Uganda has only recently discovered oil, and production is to begin soon. However, it is important to note that the process of oil exploration in Uganda is not new. It was first carried out by Wayland' in the 1920s, who documented up to 52 oil and gas seeps in the Albertine Graben.2 Petroleum exploration activities ceased, because of the Second World War, until 1983, * Emmanuel B Kasimbazi LLB (Dar); Dip Legal Practice (LDC); LLM (Calgary); PhD (UKZN) is Associate Professor, School of Law, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda. Dr Kasimbazi can be contacted by e-mail at ekasimbazi@yahoo.com. 1 EJ Wayland was a government geologist during the British Colonial Government. He documented substantial amounts of hydrocarbons in the Albertine Graben. 2 National Environment Management Authority (NEMA), (2009), Environmental Sensitivity Atlas for the Albertine Graben, www.nemaug.org/atlas/SensitivityAtlas 2009 May.pdf (accessed on 2 September 2011), 13. See also Ibrahim Kasita, History of Oil in Uganda, New Vision Friday, 23 January 2009.