Greenpeace Activists Refuse To Leave Shell Arctic Oil Rig
"Shell wants activists off its rig. We want Shell out of the Arctic," says Annie Leonard, Greenpeace USA’s Executive Director.
Attorneys for Royal Dutch Shell PLC on Tuesday sued in federal court to remove six Greenpeace activists who boarded a vessel carrying an oil-drilling rig leased by Shell across the Pacific.
Six campaigners with the environmental organization boarded the drilling rig, which is being hauled by a separate vessel, on Monday approximately 750 miles northwest of Hawaii. The rig, the Polar Pioneer, is slated for drilling operations in the Chukchi Sea this summer.
Shell's lawsuit states: "Greenpeace has a demonstrated pattern of conducting direct actions against Arctic oil and gas operations that violate the rights of others and create dangerous situations for their targets, law enforcement, and their own members."
The court complaint seeks an injunction that applies to all vessels and aircraft associated with proposed Alaska offshore exploration in transit to the United States, in port, and on the way to lease areas.
“Boarding a moving vessel on the high seas is extremely dangerous and jeopardizes the safety of all concerned, including both the people working aboard and the protesters themselves,” Shell spokeswoman Kelly op de Weegh said. “While we recognize the right to voice an objection to our planned Alaska exploration program, we can’t condone Greenpeace’s unlawful and unsafe tactics.”
The protest comes a week after the Obama administration reaffirmed Shell’s 2008 lease in the Chukchi Sea, essentially giving the company the green light to begin preparations for drilling in the Arctic as early as this summer. Shell has reportedly spent $4 billion in its effort to drill in the Arctic, but hasn’t been allowed to drill there since 2012, when a key piece of safety equipment used in cleaning up oil spills failed.
Conservation groups oppose Arctic offshore exploratory drilling, saying oil companies have not demonstrated they can clean up a major spill in harsh conditions far from deep-water ports, major airports and other resources that could be of use in a spill.
An Environmental Impact Report released by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) — part of the Department of the Interior, which gave last week’s go-ahead — found that, under the current plan for drilling in the Chukchi Sea, there is a 75 percent chance of a major oil spill in the Arctic.
