Don't let BP Amoco DespOIL the Arctic Ocean!

Strike a Blow in the Fight Against Global Warming!

Read the Greenpeace comments on Northstar DEIS
or download it in Adobe Acrobat format

1998 was the warmest year on record, reflecting the warming trend of the last 150 years. This warming results in more frequent extreme weather events, such as floods and storms, which cost thousands of lives and millions of dollars. We know that the burning of fossil fuels is the leading cause of this warming. Greenpeace is working to protect the climate by halting the massive expansion of oil and gas production activities, particularly off Alaska's north coast in the Arctic Ocean. WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Oil companies such as BP Amoco, ARCO, Chevron, Statoil, and Gazprom want to open up the Arctic Ocean to oil development. BP Amoco's Northstar project is the first of these developments. BP Amoco is already building Seal Island, an artificial gravel drilling island in the Beaufort Sea north of Alaska, and the corporation plans to construct a subsea pipeline to bring this oil to land.
If Northstar is allowed to proceed, it will pave the way for a string of oil wells to be drilled across the Beaufort Sea, which has until now been out of the industry's reach.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

On February 5, The US Army Corps of Engineers published a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Northstar Project. Greenpeace is encouraging concerned organizations and individuals to submit comments on the FEIS as soon as possible. All comments must be reviewed and considered by the Army Corps, so your voice will be heard.

SUGGESTED POINTS TO RAISE IN YOUR COMMENTS:

Dangerous Technology: BP Amoco's Northstar project will use untested and risky technology to transport the oil ashore through a pipeline buried beneath the seabed. Sub-seabed pipelines have never been used in the Arctic, and for good reason. The pipeline will be subjected to the usual stresses and strains and occasional failures associated with pipelines (642 reported spills totaling 1.2 million gallons have been reported by the operators of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline since it opened in 1977). The pipeline will also be at risk from potentially unstable permafrost, and from gouging and scouring by ice as it moves and piles up throughout the long Arctic winter. Northstar will be located in an area of the Arctic Ocean that is either frozen solid or in 'broken ice' condition for approximately ten months of the year, and in an area that is subjected to prolonged periods of darkness during the Arctic winter.

Oil Spill Danger: Spills are virtually inevitable: the Draft Environmental Impact Statement indicated that there is a 1-in-4 chance of a major spill over the life of the Northstar project. BP Amoco and government submissions admit that they will be largely unable to clean up or contain oil spills in this extreme yet vulnerable environment; and the worst case scenario, a blowout during broken ice conditions, could have catastrophic consequences for generations.

Cumulative Impacts: The sprawling and expanding industrial complex at Prudhoe Bay which now covers 800 square miles will soon spread from the borders of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to the east, and as far west as the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A). The oil industry and government look at each project in a vacuum, without accounting for the cumulative effects of industrial noise and disturbance, chronic air and water pollution and human activity associated with oil production on whales, seals, polar bears and other wildlife of the Beaufort Sea; as well as on the people who have called the Arctic 'home' for thousands of years.

The transition toward renewable energy must start now: Projects like BP Amoco's Northstar only serve to delay the inevitable transition away from fossil fuels and towards safer forms of energy such as solar and wind. The US government needs to be investing in renewable energy instead of spending millions of taxpayer's dollars subsidizing dangerous oil development in the Arctic.

Global Warming: If we want to protect the climate, we cannot afford to burn the oil reserves already identified, making it foolhardy for government and industry to spend billions developing more. Both U.S. President Bill Clinton and BP Amoco's CEO John Browne have made widely publicized statements supporting action on climate change - while at the same time encouraging and participating in a massive expansion of oil production in the Arctic.

You can fax them yourself to:

Mr. Tim Jennings
Project Manager - US Army Corps of Engineers
Alaska District - Regulatory Branch
P.O. Box 898
Anchorage, AK 99506-0898

Fax: 1-907-753-5567

Deadline for comments is March 8, 1999.

If you have any questions or need additional information please contact either Dan Ritzman or Melanie Duchin in the Greenpeace, Alaska office - (907) 277-8234. Or by email at: dan.ritzman@dialb.greenpeace.org or melanie.duchin@dialb.greenpeace.org

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