BP are hoping that everyone has forgotten about the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico last year, and are quietly putting in place plans to drill in the deep waters off of the west of Shetland, risking an even bigger disaster.
The winning entry to our 2010 'Rebrand BP' competition
Another week, another push for reckless oil drilling by a UK company. This time it's BP, which wants to drill its deepest ever well in UK waters - a 1300 metre well - off the coast of North Uist.
Our activists arrested after boarding Cairn's arctic rig
Today our mission to protect the Arctic moves from the frozen seas of Greenland into the courts of Amsterdam and Greenland.
After our first occupation of its oil rig at the beginning of last week Cairn filed for an injunction
with the courts in Amsterdam. The injunction is aimed at preventing us
taking any further action to stop drilling in the Arctic. It would mean
we’d be fined two million euros for every day any future protest stops
drilling on the company’s Arctic oil rigs.
Reacting to the news that the Greenland government has
officially granted permits to the Scottish company, Cairn Energy, to begin new
oil drilling in the fragile Arctic environment, Ben Ayliffe, a senior campaigner
for Greenpeace, said:
On March 31, three weeks before the BP Deepwater Horizon
disaster, President Barack Obama announced plans to open offshore oil
drilling along the east coast of the United
States from Virginia to Florida and the eastern Gulf of Mexico, ending a
decades-long moratorium.
He further announced research to assess the
feasibility of offshore drilling in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas off
the north coast of Alaska.
On March 31, three weeks before the BP Deepwater Horizon
disaster, President Barack Obama announced plans to open offshore oil
drilling along the east coast of the United
States from Virginia to Florida and the eastern Gulf of Mexico, ending a
decades-long moratorium.
He further announced research to assess the feasibility of offshore drilling in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas off the north coast of Alaska.
Explaining the 2010 decision was “intended to reduce dependence on oil imports, generate revenue from the sale of offshore leases and help win political support for comprehensive energy and climate legislation,” the New York Times wrote: “the sheer breadth of the offshore drilling decision will take some of [the president’s] supporters aback...
Even as Mr. Obama curries favors with pro-drilling interests, he risks a backlash from some coastal governors, senators and environmental advocates, who say that the relatively small amounts of oil to be gained in the offshore areas are not worth the environmental risks.”
Melting icebergs in the path of rigs in the Arctic, the latest oil frontier
Drilling in the Arctic is a risky business. So it’s a good thing that the
only company with a license to drill in the Arctic isn’t comparing the whole endeavour to hanging out
in Vegas and trying your hand at shooting craps.
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