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(The Canadian Press)

Arctic region’s economic output at $1 trillion and growing

Ben Anderson, Alaska Dispatch
Posted: Tuesday, July 16, 2013 at 16:36
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At the beginning of the Pacific Northwest Economic Region (PNWER) conference in Anchorage this week, a group of panelists pointed

Shell and other oil companies are embarking on offshore oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic. In the meantime, the coastal plain in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge remains off limits to oil drilling. (Illustration: Aaron Jansen, Alaska Dispatch)

Alaska lobbying group wants ANWR drilling

Alex DeMarban, Alaska Dispatch News
Posted: Tuesday, June 4, 2013 at 09:21
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Secrecy remains the watchword for the state-funded lobbying group with the thankless task of trying to open the Arctic National

Petition circulates against EU status at Arctic Council What the EU seal ban has meant for Inuit communities in the Arctic A group of Canadian Inuit have launched a website to drum up support for the abolition of the European Union ban on seal products. They are also circulating a petition calling on the Canadian Government to reject observer status for the EU at the Arctic Council. “We the undersigned Citizens of Canada, call on we call on Parliament to reject the European Union’s application for OBSERVER STATUS at the Arctic Council until such time as the European Union recognizes the rights of Canadian seal hunters to participate in a lawful industry by completely lifting the seal product ban (Regulation (EC) No. 1007/2009) currently in place,” reads a section of the petition posted on the website inuitsealing.org This May, Canada takes over the roving chairmanship of the Arctic Council from Sweden. Inuit throughout the Arctic have been negatively affected since the EU seal ban was put in place in XXXX. Though the ban includes an exemption for Inuit, the ban has nevertheless killed the market for seal products that generated from Inuit communities in places like Greenland, Canada and Alaska. The General Court of the EU will decide later on this week whether the EU ban on seal products should stand or be struck down. Related Link: Seal Ban: The Inuit Impact The conical drilling unit Kulluk, sitting grounded 60 kilometres southwest of Kodiak City, Alaska, earlier this winter. The Kulluk accident is one of recent incidents that have some worried about the safety of energy exploration in the Arctic. Greenpeace launches whistleblowing website for Arctic drilling Environmental group Greenpeace launched a website on Wednesday where employees and those working with companies drilling in the Arctic, can report concerns. The website was launched “to encourage employees and subcontractors of oil companies involved in Arctic drilling to come forward and help expose the incredible risks corporations are taking as they look to plunder the resources of this pristine region,” Greenpeace said in a press release. The environmental group has long been opposed to Arctic drilling. “The human, environmental and economic impacts of an accident in the polar north would be catastrophic and we hope this new website will reveal the truth about the gamble oil companies like Shell are willing to take,” said Ben Ayliffe, head of Arctic oil at Greenpeace International, in a press release. Through no drilling is currently underway in the Canadian Arctic, a number of companies have been active in Arctic Alaska. Greenpeace International has launched a whistleblowing website today to encourage employees and subcontractors of oil companies involved in Arctic drilling to come forward and help expose the incredible risks corporations are taking as they look to plunder the resources of this pristine region. As www.arctictruth.org went live this morning, the environmental campaign group made a direct appeal to oil industry employees who may have access to inside information, particularly on operational safety, poor practices and potential breaches of environmental regulations. This latest initiative in Greenpeace's campaign to protect the Arctic from creeping industrialisation comes at a time of heightened concern over the safety of drilling operations in the region. Over the last year, Shell has lurched from one safety blunder to another — its oil spill containment was “crushed like a beer can” during tests; its barge failed to meet safety standards; one of its rigs ran aground in Alaska while the other had a fire in its engine, and both are now under federal, criminal investigation. “Shell’s recent experience in the Arctic has been a shambles from start to finish. If it hadn’t been for such close public and media scrutiny, very little of the truth about the company’s appalling safety practises would ever have come to light. That is why we are looking for information relating to oil drilling in the far north, which would usually be kept under wraps. The public needs to know about the incredible risks these companies are taking each and every day they drill in the fragile Arctic,” said Ben Ayliffe, head of Arctic oil at Greenpeace International. Posters advertising the new website are appearing today in the streets surrounding the London offices of Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell — one of the biggest oil companies leading the Arctic resource rush. Flyers are also being handed out to employees outside the company's headquarters in the UK and the Netherlands, whilst Greenpeace is also launching an online charm offensive to reach Shell's staff through the professional networking site LinkedIn. Arctic Truth offers the opportunity to submit information securely and in confidence. Greenpeace International will treat all information with absolute respect and use it to challenge irresponsible practices in the Arctic, whilst ensuring that our sources are protected. “The Arctic is the most remote and technically challenging drilling environment imaginable and so far the industry has proven that it’s simply not up to the challenge. But without close public scrutiny, the full extent of Shell’s recklessness and lax attitude towards even basic safety standards would never have come to light,” said Ayliffe. “The human, environmental and economic impacts of an accident in the polar north would be catastrophic and we hope this new website will reveal the truth about the gamble oil companies like Shell are willing to take.” Greenpeace has a long history of documenting environmental abuses by corporations and regularly receives information from industry insiders. This includes a concerned former whaler tipping the organisation off about wrongdoing in Japan's 'scientific' whaling programme and a disillusioned former employee of a waste recycling site in England, who highlighted that much of the waste was being dumped in Africa rather than being recycled. -30- For more information, please contact: Diego Creimer, Media Relations, Greenpeace Canada, 514 999 6743 Jessica Wilson, Greenpeace International Arctic campaign, +44 7896 893118 Ben Ayliffe, Greenpeace International Arctic campaign, +44 7815708683

Greenpeace launches whistleblowing website for Arctic drilling

Eilís Quinn, Eye on the Arctic @arctic_eq
Posted: Wednesday, April 24, 2013 at 08:45
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Environmental group Greenpeace launched a website on Wednesday where employees and those working with companies drilling in the Arctic, can

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