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Rough Seas Sends Greenpeace Home

Maritime Activity Reports, Inc.

April 13, 2015

 Six Greenpeace activists opposed to offshore drilling in the Arctic have abandoned a Seattle-bound drill rig they boarded in the Pacific Ocean six days ago.

 
Rough seas prompted the decision, Greenpeace said.  The protesters rappelled off the an oil rig leased by Royal Dutch Shell Plc. that is bound for the Arctic and got into inflatable boats before returning to a Greenpeace ship stationed nearby.
 
"Worsening weather conditions that were expected to bring high swells led the six activists to leave the oil rig on Saturday," a Greenpeace representative said in an email.
 
The six climbed on the Polar Pioneer, a 400-foot (120-meter) rig owned by Transocean Ltd., about 750 miles (1,200 kilometres) northwest of Hawaii last Monday. A heavy-lift vessel called the Blue Marlin is transporting the rig to Seattle for staging.
 
Royal Dutch Shell, which leased the rig, hopes to use it for exploratory drilling during the summer open-water season in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska’s northwest coast if it can obtain all necessary permits.
 
Meanwhile, U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason in Anchorage, Alaska, on Saturday granted Shell a restraining order against the protesters. The order, issued Saturday, prohibits Greenpeace activists from entering a safety zone around the rig and the Blue Marlin.
 
"We're pleased the court agreed to grant a restraining order against Greenpeace," said Shell spokeswoman Kelly op de Weegh.
 
"It's unfortunate we had to pursue this legal action but we don't want a repeat of previous illegal stunts, including the group's illegal boarding on the Polar Pioneer drilling rig, this month.
 
Greenpeace said its team of activists did not interfere with the crew transporting the oil rig. The organization had earlier said on its website that the activists had enough supplies to last for several days on the rig.
 

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