ALASKA STATE GOVERNMENT AND ARCO JOIN FORCES IN LEGAL ACTION AGAINST GREENPEACE

Anchorage Alaska; 15 August 1997

Greenpeace's legal protest against ARCO yesterday resulted in the multinational oil company and the State of Alaska joining forces to sue the environmental organization. Greenpeace activists have delayed ARCO for two days from moving an exploratory drilling rig from its current site near Prudhoe Bay to Camden Bay (offshore the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) 75 miles away.

ARCO has served Greenpeace with a writ and has applied to the federal district court in Anchorage for a both a temporary restraining order and punitive damages in response to the peaceful protests. At the same time, the Attorney General of Alaska State has filed virtually identical papers claiming Greenpeace is threatening the State's interests by protesting oil industry activities.

"In Alaska, oil is king and the Governor is a pawn," said Steve Sawyer, Arctic Expedition leader on board the Arctic Sunrise. "The law is either thrown aside in the interests of the oil companies, or used as an offensive weapon to prevent public opposition to the destruction of the global climate."

ARCO's court action is partially based on the claim that their 150,000 ton concrete island drilling rig was rammed by a Greenpeace inflatable rubber boat. Activists did, in fact, drive alongside the rig's tow chains holding banners that read "STOP OIL; GO SOLAR" while the Greenpeace ship, Arctic Sunrise, anchored about 400 feet from the bow of the rig. Meanwhile, ARCO still lacks the required permits to deballast and then move the rig to waters just offshore from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Without obtaining these permits, ARCO would be acting illegally.

Greenpeace was served yesterday with hundreds of pages of legal material by ARCO attorneys, Bogle and Gates who represented Exxon during the notorious Exxon Valdez case. "This SLAPP suit (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) amounts to nothing less than legal harrassment by powers who clearly feel greatly threatened when Greenpeace exercises its right to free speech and protest. ARCO and the State must accept the First Amendment has teeth in Alaska as elsewhere in the country" said Duncan Currie, Greenpeace lawyer.

Greenpeace is demanding an immediate halt to new oil exploration, both in the Arctic and globally and is calling for all industialized nations to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20 per cent from 1990 levels by the year 2005 in order to protect the earth's climate.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

Steve Sawyer, on board the Arctic Sunrise Satellite phone +872 130 2577

Kalee Kreider - Washington DC + 1 202 319 2523; mobile +1 202 236 2579

Paul Horsman & Duncan Currie - Anchorage, Alaska + 1 907 277 8234; mobile + 1 907 440 3708