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Northstar Campaign Summary Ever since the discovery of the massive Prudhoe Bay oil field on Alaska's North Slope in 1968, the oil industry has longed to search for and develop oil offshore. Extreme Arctic conditions and the immensely powerful and shifting Arctic ice pack meant that exploration, and particularly production, would be extremely expensive and risky. Contradicting its "green" rhetoric, BP Amoco is now trying to develop "Northstar", the first offshore oil development project in the Arctic Ocean. New oil fuels global warming
Greenpeace opposes the opening of new oil frontiers because climate scientists tell us we can only afford to burn one quarter of the world's total oil reserves to avoid catastrophic climate change. At current rates of burning fossil fuels we will pass "safe limits" within forty years. Ground zero for global warming Signs of global warming can already be seen in the Arctic where temperatures are increasing three to five times faster than the rest of the world. Since 1978 satellite measurements of the Arctic sea ice show an overall decline in ice area larger than the state of Texas. The melting of the ice pack will affect the temperatures and flow of ocean currents. Melting ice on adjecent land masses such as Greenland may already be causing sea levels to rise. These changes in the ocean will lead to more extreme weather including floods, hurricanes, droughts and heat waves.
Caribou populations in the Arctic are also facing extinction. Caribou must dig beneath winter snow to find their food. The increasing temperatures have led to warmer, denser snow, which slow the caribous' journey to their feeding grounds and cover those areas with a thick, impenetrable layer of crusty snow and ice. Direct threats to the local environment In addition to Northstar's threat to the global climate, the project poses direct and unacceptable dangers to the fragile and pristine Arctic environment. The pipeline carrying "hot" (between 130-180°F) oil will be buried in shifting permafrost soils six to eight feet under the ocean floor. Broken or solid sea ice, which covers the area for up to 10 months of the year, pose a particular risk in terms of oil spills and inhibiting or preventing oil spill response. Both the construction methods and the technology for delivering the oil ashore are untested in the harsh conditions of the Arctic. U.S. federal government agencies estimate that the likelihood of a major oil spill during the life of the project run as high as one in four, with potentially devastating local and regional environmental impacts. Responding to an oil spill in Arctic conditions is extremely difficult at the best of times, and is for all practical purposes impossible during the 'broken ice' periods. The State of Alaska has recognized this difficulty and recently imposed drilling restrictions during broken ice and open water conditions in an attempt to reduce this risk to some extent. Solar Solution A dramatic increase in the use of renewable energy such as wind and solar power is essential if we are to reduce greenhouse gas emissions produced by using oil, coal and gas. A vast array of proven renewable energy technologies have been developed and could be mass-produced with the support of the energy industry. But the energy market is at an impasse: fossil fuel industries continue to explore and drill for more dirty fuels, while the government offers them enormous subsidies. Meanwhile, industry analysts report that if a solar factory large enough to produce five million solar panels a year were built, solar power could become cost-competitive with traditional fossil fuel and nuclear energy. BP Amoco Chairman Sir John Browne claims his company is committed to developing renewable energy and yet the company's solar division, "Solarex" remains acutely under funded. The cost of Northstar, estimated to exceed $500 million is alone more than BP Amoco's annual investment in solar. In a company announcment in July 2000, investment in oil and gas development was increased by 40% resulting in 50 times more cash going to exploration and production of fossil fuels than to green energy. Greenpeace In Action Greenpeace is challenging BP Amoco's decision to pursue Northstar on a wide array of fronts:
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Construction
of Northstar, located about six miles north of Point Storkersen
in the Beaufort Sea, just west of Prudhoe Bay, has now begun. An
existing gravel island, Seal Island, is being enlarged with thousands
of tonnes of gravel to cover five acres, and would serve as a platform
for up to 30 wells. The field is currently estimated to contain
145-185 million barrels of oil with BP Amoco's total investment
in the project exceeding $500 million. If Northstar moves ahead,
BP Amoco and other oil companies are prepared to accelerate their
expansion into the Beaufort Sea, opening up a completely new oil
frontier. 
Arctic
wildlife such as polar bears and caribou are being directly affected
by these changes. The retreating ice could mean extinction for polar
bears, which hunt ringed seals through holes in the ice. As the
extent of the ice declines, polar bears lose both their habitat
and access to their food supply. Walruses, who also live on the
ice pack, are similarly threatened because as the ice edge retreats
beyond the continental shelf, the water will become too deep for
walruses to dive for their food which lives on the sea floor. Bowhead
whales and other whale species who migrate through the Arctic Ocean
are also threatened.