SHELL NO! SHELL NO!!
This is the refrain that was repeated like a mantra on the waterways and in the communities of the Pacific Northwest as Shell Oil’s unholy assault on the Arctic Ocean began in May, following US President Obama’s “conditional” approval of Shell’s plan to drill for oil deep under the seabed of the Arctic Ocean. Given the efforts the Obama Administration has been making to combat Climate Change and give our planet a chance for a viable future, the White House announcement was at once shocking and reprehensible. What on Earth was Obama doing?
That day, May 11th, will stand as the low point of Barack Obama’s years in office. It was as if he suddenly turned his back on the world, an action made so much more deplorable because he was beginning to give us hope that our precious planet may yet not have to face the bleak future so many of us fear. The reaction was swift and to the point. Bill McKibben, co-founder of 350.org stated, “Shell helped melt the Arctic and now they want to drill in the thawing waters; it beggars belief that the Obama administration is willing to abet what amounts to one of the greatest acts of corporate irresponsibility in the planet’s history. Arctic oil, like tar sands, is exactly the sort of carbon we need to leave underground if we’re going to have any chance of avoiding catastrophe.”
On the waters near downtown Seattle, a fleet of kayakers surrounded the giant oil rig Shell was preparing to head northwards to Arctic waters with the aim of beginning drilling this summer. Then, a support barge carrying equipment began its long journey north. The equipment included a gigantic science fiction flame thrower supposedly designed to deal with inevitable spills by burning off oil spewing from blown out wells. The concept is sheer fantasy that emerged from the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. An equivalent incident in the Arctic, where thick ice still forms after a brief summer interlude, could never be contained. It would spell the end for much Arctic marine life and the human lives that depend on it. It took two huge tugs to tow the barge.
At OrcaLab, we tracked its journey through the Inside Passage and streamed video of it live as it passed through Blackney Pass, hoping to contribute to growing awareness of the imminent danger. It felt like a futile gesture. At the same time, Greenpeace, whose ship Esperanza tracked the vast drilling platform Polar Pioneer off the coast of British Columbia, mounted protests that included an Indigenous activist facing off against the giant rig, as well as swimmers in the water, trying to stop the madness. There was no hint of even a pause in the relentless journey.
Subsequently, the support barge was forced to return to Oregon for repairs where it met further opposition from stalwart Greenpeacers dangling on lines from a bridge that prevented it leaving for several days. Again to no avail. The barge made it back to Alaska and drilling commenced to an overwhelming sense of dread for what was to come. Day by day we clung to the hope that there would be no blowout before winter ice formed and prevented disaster, if only for the moment.
And then yesterday, incredible news! After drilling nearly 7,000’ feet below the Arctic floor, Shell suddenly and with no warning quit its mad pursuit. Virtually no oil or gas had been found. Hallelujah! Shell used its failure to announce that it would not return to the Arctic, but I have no doubt that behind the decision lay a building PR nightmare. The name Shell has become an ugly word. The company is reviled around the world for its careless disdain for the gift we on this planet share.
The day after, outside Shell’s HQ in London, a giddy celebration of Shell’s capitulation featured actress Emma Thompson. Standing beside Aurora the giant polar bear who symbolizes Arctic plight she said for us all: On to Paris!
So yes, despite Big Oil and thanks to Greenpeacers and millions of others around the world, there is hope.
Paul Spong is a founder of Greenpeace's anti-whaling campaign. He now runs Orca Lab, a small land-based whale research station nestled against the evergreen forest of Hanson Island.