Ten Hours and Counting, Greenpeace Shuts Down Arctic Drilling
Loads of activists yearn to nip the next big offshore oil rush right in the bud. Well at least for a day, four from Greenpeace can claim that's exactly what they did.
It all began last week when The Greenpeace ship Esperanza arrived in the Arctic to protest two deep sea wells being drilled by Scotland-based firm Cairn Energy. Promptly, the Danish Navy and police arrived to aid the defenseless oil and gas giant against a handful of threatening hippies in sailor's whites, and the nine-day standoff began. Three military ships reportedly encircled the Esperanza and warned it to stay outside a 500-meter zone.
Well, at least according to The Guardian, the flotilla of police and military only said the ship couldn't breach the line. Greenpeace is way more cunning than that. At 5:45 AM this morning, four climbers in inflatable speedboats slipped past the armed boats, crossed the exclusion zone, and scaled the drill rig, the Stena Don. Occupying the rig with their banner waving in the frigid air, the campaigners successfully halted operations today by triggering an emergency shutdown system. I'm sure the brave group will be arrested soon, and no doubt the rig will eventually start chugging away again, but man, what a way to make a statement.
It's a vitally important statement they've made. See, a lot more is at stake than just the daily schedule of one or two drill rigs.
Last week Cairn happened to announce the first evidence of gas deposits under the Arctic off the coast of Greenland, a region with huge reserves now being made more accessible for the first time in modern history as global warming melts ice up north. The rigs are working in an area known as "Iceberg Alley," where tough conditions have prevented drilling in the past. It is among the most dangerous drill sites in the world, and an oil spill there would wreck sensitive wildlife habitat in an area even more difficult to clean than the Gulf.
If Cairn's so-called "wildcat project" is successful, the more traditional likes of Exxon, Chevron and Shell all are eagerly awaiting their turn to poke holes in the newly-vulnerable deep sea floor, according to Greenpeace. I fear the efforts to extract the estimated energy equivalent to 18 billion barrels of oil would surely be disastrous. The only reason BP isn't among the bunch is because it withdrew last week, I can only imagine for fear a second Deepwater Horizon spill could be a knockout punch to the beleaguered company.
Now, Greenpeace has an letter you can sign on its site to lodge your opinion with Cairn CEO Bill Gammell. But, honestly, the most interesting target is the institution that's bankrolling Cairn's activity. Last week, Change.org blogger Nikki Gloudeman wrote about protesters holding a "climate camp" outside the Royal Bank of Scotland for the bank's financing of a whole host of nasty oil and gas projects, including Cairn Energy's.
You can also sign Nikki's petition to tell the Royal Bank of Scotland to pull its support from Cairn's irresponsible project. I doubt Cairn would change its plans at the whim of Greenpeace's demands, but if it hears the bank calling, maybe the company would have a few second thoughts.
Please back up Greenpeace's work, and tell the bank to stop bankrolling big oil now.
Photo credit: Greenpeace activist aboard Cairn oil rig/Greenpeace
Jess Leber
is a Change.org editor. She most recently covered climate and energy issues as a reporter in Washington, D.C
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