In the Chukchi Sea

So finally we have arrived on the ice edge of the Chukchi Sea, about 71º20' North and 163º34' West. Try and find it on Google Earth to keep yourselves entertained, and you'll have an idea where we are. It is very near one of the  sites where Shell Alaska is planning to drill for oil this summer.

It's taken weeks to get here - mostly because the ship was preoccupied with doing submarine operations in the Bering Sea underwater canyons, and we stopped off at Point Hope on the north slope of Alaska for a visit and some rather depressing fact finding days.

The big issue around here is, of course, oil. Oil in general and Shell in particular, who have so far spent a staggering US$ 4.5 billion on exploration logistics and leases from the US government and now want to cash in on their investment. Since they have received most of their permits, the Arctic drilling program is seen as an inevitability by the oil men. For the native Alaskans living on the north slope, on the other hand, it's outright frightening. Having lived here for thousands of years, long before Europeans discovered and colonised America, they continue to have a subsistence culture based on whale, walrus and seal hunting, fishing and the odd caribou. The Arctic Ocean is their garden. The Eskimo people were perfectly adapted to their harsh Arctic environment, and they have also adapted to modern times: Snowmobiles have replaced dogs and sleds; ATVs and trucks, pre-fabricated houses and fossil fuels are as much in their lives as anywhere else now - perhaps even more so. The council of the 948-strong community has snowploughs for the winter, electricity all year round, a fire service, ambulance service and a high school, all paid for by oil tax revenues from the State of Alaska.

Complex problems, and no easy answers. 
Given the continuous resistance to Shell's attempts to win them over to support drilling with the lure of jobs and perks, the locals are terrified but have an impossible choice to make: not resisting new drilling and risking an oil spill in the harsh Arctic climate, where the sea is covered with ice for 8 months of the year. A catastrophic Gulf-style oil spill would almost certainly wipe out the wildlife along the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas - and as a consequence, their way of life, culture and future. On the other hand, they could keep resisting, filing lawsuits, delaying Shell for as long as possible, and risk their community go broke - in the short-term by way of expensive lawyers they'd have to hire, and in the long term, when the oil tax revenues dry up from other projects in Prudhoe Bay.

So why are we here? Greenpeace has launched a major campaign of undertaking scientific research, raising awareness and deterring Shell from drilling by peaceful means. The prospect of another Deepwater Horizon scale oil spill as the world has seen in the Gulf of Mexico is simply not an option, and the risks are too high. Thus my job is obvious: to document what is at stake.