Add new comment

Legal battles are brewing in the Arctic over Shell’s plans to conduct exploratory oil drilling in the Beaufort Sea, beginning next month, and environmental groups’ desire to stop them.

On Monday, Shell sued 13 environmental groups, “seeking a Federal Court order declaring it legally authorized to proceed with Arctic Ocean drilling this summer, despite the groups' complaints.” The move comes after Greenpeace activists confronted the Nordica, an icebreaker that is en route to the western Arctic to function as a support vessel for Shell’s drilling fleet, four times in four days in the North Atlantic:

20 Greenpeace Nordic activists boarded the Nordica in Helsinki, Finland. When the first team of activists was arrested, 22 more activists arrived onsite in two inflatable boats and three canoes. Two days later, six Greenpeace Nordic activists boarded the same vessel off the coast of Sweden and until Swedish authorities were called to the scene. Two days later, six Greenpeace Nordic activists boarded the same vessel off the coast of Sweden until Swedish authorities were called to the scene.  After 10 hours the activists were removed by a SWAT team and taken into custody. They were arrested under preliminary charges of aggravated trespass and arbitrary conduct.

Previous Greenpeace actions against other vessels in the fleet before their departure for the Arctic prompted Shell to seek – and receive – a protective order preventing Greenpeace from interfering with those vessels once they are on site. The new legal measure does not, however, address direct actions, but seeks to “prevent 12 other environmental groups from launching ‘last-minute legal challenges’ to its drilling.”

Why This Matters: The Arctic is emerging as the newest, and arguably most significant, environmental front line, especially as it relates to marine issues. With new information emerging about the possible impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on the likes of turtles, seafood and human health, environmental groups are keen to emphasize the likely severity of a similar accident in an Arctic environment, and to highlight the readiness of the oil industry to expand its operations in this environment even in the aftermath of the Gulf of Mexico incident. In addition, of course, the Arctic, and particularly Arctic sea ice, is being impacted significantly by climate change  – the result of the burning of fill fuels such as the oil that Shell seeks to extract from the Beaufort.