The Paddle in Seattle and the campaign to stop Shell drilling in the Arctic is clearly resonating at the highest levels of government and having a serious political impact. Whilst on Thursday night President Obama broke out of his talks on the Middle East at Camp David to clarify his position on Arctic drilling, and early today Secretary of State John Kerry had to change his plans to visit Seattle, the protests over the weekend have now compelled Admiral Papp, the US special representative for the Arctic, who leads the US Arctic Council delegation, to speak out.
Admiral Papp made a comment earlier this week which the media read as him questioning what all the fuss was about in Seattle. Here at Greenpeace, we were surprised that such an Arctic expert who has proclaimed his deep concern about climate change, would see a mass movement to stop Shell’s Arctic drilling as ‘overblown’ as the headline suggests. When I read these comments, I was surprised to read that he was actually referencing the media stories as ‘overblown’ because he says that despite the approval of Shell’s exploration plan, a final decision on Shell’s drilling has not been made. In it he says:
“This is properly Department of Interior business and what they done is approved another step in the process for Shell to drill in the Arctic, not final approval”
For me this was great news, it suggests one of two things. Either that there is still genuine debate in the Administration, which we had all frankly given up on since the President seems so set on supporting Shell, or that the Administration is realising it has bitten off more than it can chew in consenting Shell’s Arctic plans and, now worried that Arctic Drilling is set to become the ‘next Keystone Pipeline’, they are looking for a way out. Or both!
Just now I had the good fortune to be in a room with the Admiral at the Swedish Embassy today, for a conference entitled “The Arctic: Hot or cold?”. I asked what he had meant by these comments and he was only too pleased to clarify.
He said “The recent announcement is just another step in the process. Theres a further step that they have to go through with BSEE now that looks at all the safety procedures and preparations that would have to be done, there are permitting processes to go through. And I have to tell you, it is a real challenge, Im not sure whether Shell will meet it or not.”
Whatever the reason, this is truly a moment for people power. If Admiral Papp’s comments were designed to calm the concern, what they actually do is create real uncertainty for Shell and its investors and that will only make the people roar more loudly. If there’s a way out for the government on this, it’s certainly looking more attractive that they take it.
