US Coast Guard Creates 'Protest-Free Zone' in Alaska Oil Drilling Zone
Source: Common Dreams
Published on Friday, June 29, 2012 by Common Dreams
US Coast Guard Creates 'Protest-Free Zone' in Alaska Oil Drilling Zone
- Common Dreams staff
The US Coast Guard will establish and enforce "a 500-meter safety zone" around the Shell oil drilling vessel Noble Discoverer as it drills exploratory offshore wells in the sensitive arctic waters off the coast of Alaska beginning this July.
In documents obtained by the website Cryptome, the USGS says that "request for the temporary safety zone was made by Shell Exploration & Production Company due to safety concerns for both the personnel aboard the Noble Discoverer and the environment."
The 'buffer zone' would apply to all vessels, but the 'special rules' are clearly designed to make it more difficult for those trying to protest against the Shell's oil drilling in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas this summer. "For any group or individual intending to conduct lawful demonstrations in the vicinity of the Noble Discoverer," reads the USCG memo, "These demonstrations must be conducted outside the safety zone."
~snip~
While acknowledging the negative impact on the "environment and indigenous people" a mid-ocean collision caused by environmental activists attempting to block or board the ship could have in the arctic, the USCG report made no mention of what impact a massive oil spill in the area would have on the same.
Read more: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/06/29-2
AlecBGreen
(3,874 posts)there is a place for protest and I agree with those who think drilling for oil in the Arctic ocean is a bad idea. That said, safety first. 500m is a reasonable request.
DRoseDARs
(6,810 posts)Am I understanding correctly, that before then I could have just rowed or motorboated right up to the vessels legally? Hell, police will fine you if you're lingering in a freight truck's "No Zone" which are their blind spots.
Anyhoo, yeah I agree. The oilers have no business drilling there, but protestors have no business getting right up next to them either. We've seen how well that goes on the open ocean before. Japanese whalers know a thing or two about attempted murder on the high seas, deliberately ramming that Green Peace vessel a few years back. That mess will escalated and people will die. The US Coast Guard is making the right call here for the safety of all involved.
bluedigger
(17,091 posts)There is little purpose in protesting the drilling ship's activities on location other than publicity. It makes much more sense to protest at Shell's headquarters.
Sania Imran
(3 posts)I like your writing style......???
PavePusher
(15,374 posts)"We have been warned there will be severe penalties but I now serve notice on Shell that we are at the point where, if needs be, we will break the injunctions and pay the price of that," he said.
IIRC, unlawful boarding of a vessel at sea is considered piracy and, in U.S. or international waters, that could get you shot.
DRoseDARs
(6,810 posts)...and people will die. As far as I'm concerned, the whalers drew first blood when they deliberately rammed that Greenpeace vessel. Minor injuries and a sunk boat, but that's "attempted murder" in my book. Greenpeace really needs to NOT respond in kind because they will lose and they will lose bad.
sad sally
(2,627 posts)Lura on Beach Drive shared that photo from a busy moment in central Puget Sound around 10:20 this morning while a new wildlife platform bobbed in the foreground, the background included a state ferry, an aircraft carrier identified by Beach Drive Blog as the USS John C. Stennis and the Tor Viking II, yet another of the ships that have converged on this area as part of the Shell offshore drilling flotilla thats heading north sometime soon with the two drilling rigs that have been getting work done at Vigor Shipyard on Harbor Island. According to a document published in the Federal Register last Friday, Tor Viking (in Everett right now) is one of the 17 vessels for which a 500-yard safety zone has been ordered including the drill rigs/ships Noble Discoverer and Kulluk once they head north. (The Greenpeace Esperanza, which had been here for a while to monitor the potential departure, left this area some days ago.)