Save the Arctic: stop BP's Northstar
  Greenpeace has taken its fight to protect the world's climate to the shores of the Arctic Ocean.
BP Amoco's Northstar field would be the first oilfield to use an underwater pipeline to bring oil ashore from below the Arctic Ocean. In harsh, usually ice bound conditions, the chances of environmental damage are very high. Moreover, we cannot afford to burn more than a small fraction of the existing reserves of coal, oil and natural gas if we want to avoid dangerous levels of global warming. It makes no sense to drill for more.

CAMPAIGN HIGHLIGHTS

1997

July: The Greenpeace ship MV Arctic Sunrise leaves on its first expedition to Alaska's North Slope, to study the impacts of global warming and to confront offshore oil development. Greenpeace met with Alaska indigenous communities living on the edge of the Bering and Chukchi seas, and with scientists studying retreating glaciers, forests suffering from unusual insect infestations linked to warmer weather, and the impacts of the retreating sea ice on Arctic wildlife as well as the Arctic ecosystem as a whole.

August and October: Greenpeace takes direct action against oil giant ARCO to interfere with their attempts to drill for oil in the waters off the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and organizes a protest in Los Angeles at ARCO's headquarters.

1998

June and July: The MV Arctic Sunrise embarks on its second Arctic expedition, starting with an investigation of the impacts of global warming on forests and glaciers in Prince William Sound, and investigating the lingering impacts of the massive Exxon Valdez oil spill in the region. Ten years on, the impacts of the spill are still easily visible. The ship returned to Alaska indigenous communities, sharing with them the results of the previous year's investigations. Greenpeace also sent an expedition to the northwestern Canadian Arctic to investigate the rare, endangered Peary caribou.

August: Greenpeace, the Arctic Network, and Arctic indigenous people launch a joint report, detailing the ways in which retreating sea ice and changing weather patterns are affecting the lives of Arctic indigenous people.

August: Greenpeace inflatable boats block attempts to set off underwater explosions to explore for oil in the Arctic Ocean.

September: the MV Arctic Sunrise embarked on its first ice edge expedition with a team of scientists studying the impacts of global warming on the Pacific walrus, the black guillemot and other seabirds, and polar bears.

1999

April: BP Amoco is forced to abandon $4 million worth of roads built on the Arctic ice after failing to get permits to begin construction of Northstar.

April: Greenpeace is joined by Alaska native Sterling Gologergen, a Yup'ik Eskimo from the village of Savoonga, and Allan Hayton,, a Gwich'in Athabascan, from Arctic Village at BP's Annual General Meeting in London to demand the cancellation of the Northstar oil field development. They also made a tour of European cities to plea for help and raise public awareness. A new shareholders group, Shareholders Against New Exploration (SANE BP) questions the company's investment strategy, urging investment in renewable energy as the way of the future, and discouraging investment in new oil fields.

July: Greenpeace's third expedition to the Arctic takes an international research team of scientists to the retreating Arctic ice pack to study the impact on wildlife.

November: Greenpeace highlights important new research revealing that polar bears in some parts of the Arctic are losing weight and having fewer cubs because of shrinking sea ice.

2000

January: Greenpeace, the US Public Interest Research Group, and the US social investment fund Trillium Asset Management, backed by more than 100 individual shareholders, deliver a shareholder resolution calling on BP Amoco to abandon the Northstar project and transfer the funding to its solar division, BP Solarex. BP Amoco subsequently accepted the legality of the resolution and announced that it would be distributed to about 900,000 shareholders.

 

For three years Greenpeace has made detailed submissions to the US Federal government and its agencies, and the State of Alaska on the reasons not to develop Northstar, and has initiated legal proceedings against BP's Northstar oilfield proposal in both Federal and State courts. Greenpeace will continue to challenge BP in as many ways as possible in the US courts and through the administrative process at both State and Federal levels.

BP Amoco restarted construction of Northstar in December 1999. Its next Annual General Meeting is on April 13 in London.