Ten members of Olympic Climate Action (six by land, four by sea) joined in the activities in Seattle to protest the Shell Arctic drilling rig Polar Pioneer May 16-18. Here’s an article about the May 16 protest by OCA member Tim Wheeler.
Shell acknowledges that human-caused climate change is a problem and that government ought to set a limit on carbon emissions. Yet they spent $55 million on lobbying in the past five years, generally to protect their interests in oil. They know the world can’t afford the consequences of burning the oil that would come out of the Arctic, even if they could guarantee that they can safely extract it. Their rush to drill the Arctic is a cynical bid to pump the last dollar out of the ground, consequences be damned. And the tiny financial blip caused by their rig in our harbor pales by comparison with the benefits to our local economy of moving to clean energy, with an army of working people insulating buildings, selling efficient appliances, and installing heat pumps, solar panels, and electric-vehicle charging stations.
Here is more information about Shell, Arctic drilling, and climate change published by OCA in the May 2015 PortOCall magazine:
Articles about Shell’s Arctic dreams:
Olympic Climate Action 