GREENPEACE TELLS THE MINERALS MANAGEMENT SERVICE `CLIMATE CHANGE IS
HERE'Calls for cancellation of ARCO's exploration plans and lease sale 170
Anchorage, AK, 27 August 1997
Greenpeace continued its
campaign to avert dangerous global warming with two simultaneous
actions calling for a stop to new oil exploration. In Anchorage, two
Greenpeace climbers draped a banner on the Department of Interior's
Minerals Management Service (MMS) building which said that there is
"Bad News: The Climate is Changing" and that "MMS and Big Oil" are
"Dinosaurs". This morning at the US Department of Interior in
Washington, DC climbers hung a banner stating "No New Oil, Save the
Arctic; Stop Global Warming."
In spite of statements by President Clinton and Secretary of Interior
Bruce Babbitt that global warming is "not a theory but a fact," the
Administration has pursued an aggressive policy toward the development
of new oil reserves. Secretary Babbitt recently approved a plan to
allow for new oil exploration in vast areas off the shore of Alaska,
including the pristine waters off the coast of the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge.
Furthermore, MMS recently approved ARCO's exploratory plan for the
development of its Warthog site in Camden Bay, off the coast of the
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The federal agency has yet to issue
the final permit for drilling. Greenpeace is demanding that Secretary
Babbitt recognize the threat of the new oil development to the climate
and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and cancel ARCO's drilling
approval and stop Oil Lease Sale 170[1]. The Greenpeace ship, m/v
Arctic Sunrise recently completed a week-long protest at the Warthog
site in the Beaufort Sea.
"Opening up the North Slope to offshore drilling is like turning up
the global thermometer one more notch," said Sallie Schullinger, a
Greenpeace climate campaigner. "While oil development will have
immediate impacts on the Arctic ecosystem, polar regions are also
among those most vulnerable to climate change. MMS now has the
opportunity to redirect its focus instead to the development of
clean, renewable energy, like wind and solar power."
The Arctic Sunrise also visited communities along the Bering Sea and
Chukchi Sea coasts to document observations made by native Alaskans
of noticeable changes in the environment that could be related to
climate change. Some of the comments made were about thinning sea
ice, less precipitation both during the summer and winter, and
changes in migratory patterns of marine mammals. Greenpeace
documented other changes as well, including the retreat of the Bering
Glacier, the world's largest temperate glacier, and the advance of
insect species into northern forests, such as the spruce bark beetle.
"MMS is a dinosaur that needs to step into the present and take heed
not only of what its fellow scientists in the federal agencies are
telling them, but also of the tangible evidence of climate change that
is right before its very eyes", said Schullinger.
Greenpeace Climate's Campaign to stop new oil development in the US is
part of a global effort. Just last week, British Petroleum backed down
on legal suit to claim over $2 million assets of Greenpeace UK.
Greenpeace opposes devlopment of theBP Foinhaven field in the North
Atlantic off the coast of Scotland.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Sallie Schullinger 907/440-3704 (on site); Paul Horsman 907/277-8234
Photos and Footage Available.
Notes to Editors:
[1]. Note to Editors: Lease Sale 170 is an area that the Department
of Interior plans to sell to oil companies for new oil development in
the offshore arctic waters off the coast of Alaska.