Greenpeace protest heats up in frigid Arctic

A Greenpeace activist parachutes onto the Arctic ice to join in the group's protest of BP Amoco's oil drilling project in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska's north coast.

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By Environmental News Network staff

March 2, 2000
Web posted at: 11:55 a.m. EST (1655 GMT)

Eight Greenpeace activists have set up camp on Arctic ice to protest and monitor BP Amoco's drilling project Northstar, the first offshore oil production program in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska's fragile north coast.

"Our campaign goal is to draw a line in the ice and not allow exploration into a new oil frontier. We're going to fight like hell to protect the Beaufort Sea and the climate," said Melanie Duchin of Greenpeace Alaska.

"This is ground zero for global warming. The Arctic is warming faster than anywhere else on the planet," said activist Dan Ritzman from the Greenpeace camp. "BP Amoco promotes itself as a green company concerned about global warming yet continues to drill in new oil frontiers with projects like Northstar. It's time for BP Amoco to put its money where its mouth is and shift away from fossil fuels towards climate-friendly forms of energy such as solar power."

BP Amoco representative Ronnie Chappell defended the Northstar program and the company's sensitivity to environmental concerns.

"BP Amoco is one of the largest makers and consumers of photovoltaic panels in the world and we have plans for significant growth of our solar company," he said. "We are primarily a gas and oil company because our customers need the products we make and produce."

Northstar will be developed from Seal Island, a manmade islet about six miles offshore Point Storkensen, Alaska. The island floats in water about 39 feet deep. No causeway connects it to the mainland.

The island was used for exploratory drilling in the 1980s. It will support oil production and processing facilities. From there, the crude will be fed through subsea and above-ground pipelines to a pump station linked to the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline.

The five-acre Northstar facility is being developed to handle 65,000 barrels per day of oil. BP Amoco says Northstar is designed to reduce discharges into the environment.

An outline of BP Amoco's Northstar project.

"There are many concerns from environmental groups and local residents, but we have all the required permits," said BP Amoco's Carla Beam. "And there has been considerable (monitoring) by local, state and federal agencies from the design phase on. They are frequently on the scene."

Construction of the Northstar facility, now under way, is expected to take two years. BP Amoco estimates that the 15-year project will deliver about $575 million to the state of Alaska and about $450 million to the federal government in royalties and taxes.

"They are not looking out for the environment, the public or the Arctic," said Duchin. "They are only looking at the bottom line."

The activists set up base camp, or Ice Camp Sirius, about a mile from the Northstar project. "They will take photos and footage of construction of Northstar that will be beamed back by satellite to show rest of the world," said Duchin. "BP Amoco touts that it is globally-minded and cares about climate change, but the images from Northstar don't really square with the image they'd like to portray."

Greenpeace will also use its presence in the Arctic to pressure BP Amoco to draft a shareholder resolution that asks the company to halt construction of Northstar and switch from high-risk, fossil- fuel projects to renewable energy programs. The annual meeting of BP Amoco shareholders is April 13.

"Greenpeace does not advocate turning the spout off tomorrow," said Duchin. "We're not saying stop drilling and stop burning oil now, we're saying a transition needs to happen in the next 40 or 50 years. We have another 40 years of burning left before we really harm the environment. Since we have 40 years left, let's start the transition now, so our grandchildren don't have to deal with climate change."

Signs of global warming are already apparent in the Arctic, where temperatures are increasing three to five times faster than in the rest of the world. Ocean currents and levels are affected.

"BP Amoco is one of the few companies in the world that has publicly announced to comply with the Kyoto Protocol. Our goal is to reduce CO2 emissions by 10 percent of 1990 levels by 2010," said Chappell.

"Our view is that this (climate change) is a problem that is a concern to our customers. Scientific evidence indicates the Earth is warming and this (burning of fossil fuels) has been identified as a potential source of the problem. The larger society in which we live and do business has identified steps they'd like to take to address this problem and we're in step with that.

"It still doesn't change the fact that people need a way to get to work in the morning, or a way to get their kids to school or a way to generate electric power."

"There's a direct threat of drilling for oil in Beaufort Sea on polar bears, beluga whales, endangered bowhead whales, ringed seals, bearded seals, spectacled eiders, stellar's eiders. Tons of migratory birds live there," said Duchin. "Other threats include routine pollution from industrial areas like air emissions, water emissions and noise. All marine mammals have really good hearing and they might avoid areas that are too loud.

"It's a fragile ecosystem and a short food chain. And all these threats are cumulative, against a backdrop of all the onshore drilling. All the animals rely on ice as habitat — seals, polar bears and whales. Without ice they don't have habitat.

"The second threat is harder to see but is happening. That's global warming."

Native American tribes in Alaska also oppose the Northstar project. The following excerpt is taken from the testimony of a member of the Inupiat tribe at a public hearing in Nuiqsut, Alaska, on Northstar's draft environmental impact statement:

"(Our people) are very opposed to this development. It will bring hardship and deterioration to our lifestyle and culture ...This development is in our garden. It is where we go out to bring our food to our homes. We rely on that ... If this development occurs, more will follow. And that's a reality, just as more has followed throughout the tundra ...The animals only come during their season. And, if we don't harvest them during that season, we go without. Our chicken has to be brought in by plane. If we're going to live off chicken or other things, they have to come from out of here. We don't go to the store and buy our caribou. We go to the store and buy chicken to supplement what the land gives us if we're not able to obtain it.

"But with this development, no matter how well our families are working together, when the damage occurs, the animals will be harmed, and they won't be there for us. It is like asking us to go out to our garden and harvest a salad, but take a cup of crude oil and add it for dressing. That will happen. It's like asking us to put barbecue sauce of crude oil on our food. We don't want that and we can't have that. Sooner or later there will be leaks and there will be damage. That's a reality of this development. There's no way you can prove to us that the damage won't occur. You can't go out and test it in harsh environment."

Duchin concurs. "Alaska's native people know about how the ice has changed and they see changes in the environment that are consonant with what western scientists have to say about climate change," she said. "Even though the local government approves because they stand to gain million of dollars, the word on street from locals is they don't like it. They've been opposed for as long as offshore oil drilling has been an issue."

Greenpeace has campaigned against oil exploration in the Beaufort Sea for more than 20 years. The environmental group has reviewed thousands of documents and permits concerning Northstar and has offered oral and written comment in the process. Legal action is the group's best chance to put an end to the project, Duchin believes.

Greenpeace activists set up temporary quarters in a 15-by-20-foot tent about a mile from the Northstar project.

"We have a number of legal cases under way that have potential to stop the process, including one federal court case in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals (in San Francisco, California,)" said Duchin. "And ongoing legal initiatives at the state and federal level."

The state of Alaska and the federal government support the Northstar program. Greenpeace maintains the state has acted irresponsibly in granting drilling rights to BP Amoco. "This project is kind of unbelievable in terms of what they're turning a blind eye to," said Duchin.

"There's a lot the state and federal government can do. They can revoke permits or say BP has not met the terms of existing permits. It is totally in the state and federal government's hands to put a squash on this, but they are all in bed together. I think BP is a bully, considering the merger and layoffs. In some ways they are very friendly in Alaska, but they flex their muscles and the state of Alaska cowers."

Copyright 1999, Environmental News Network, All Rights Reserved

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