The occupation of an Arctic-bound Shell drillship by six Greenpeace activists including actress Lucy Lawless ended today after police climbed the ship’s drilling tower and arrested the group. Lawless – star of hit shows Spartacus and Xena Warrior Princess – and the activists were trying to prevent the drillship from leaving Auckland, New Zealand for US waters off Alaska, which she says threatens to devastate the fragile Arctic environment and speed up global warming.
The protest was into its fourth day and the activists had spent 77 hours on top of the 170ft drilling tower.
“This chapter has ended, but the story of the battle to save the Arctic has just begun,” said Lucy Lawless, before being arrested. “Seven of us climbed up that drillship to stop Arctic drilling, but 133,000 of us came down.”
She continued, “We will continue to stand in solidarity with the communities and species that depend on the Arctic for their lives until Shell cancels its plans to drill in this magical world, and makes the switch to clean, sustainable energy.”
Despite the fact that the charge of “unlawfully being on a ship” was available, prosecutors have chosen to charge the protestors with the more serious crime of burglary. Greenpeace insists that no property was taken or damaged during the occupation.
The activists entered the Port of Taranaki at 6:30 a.m. on February 24, scaled the drilling tower of the Shell drillship the Noble Discoverer and set up camp. The ship was preparing to leave for the Chukchi Sea off the coast of Alaska where it is scheduled to drill three exploratory oil wells this summer.
Over the course of the four-day occupation, more than 135,000 people sent an email to Shell executives telling them to cancel their plans to drill in the Arctic. Thousands of people tweeted messages of support to Lucy and the activists using the hashtag #savethearctic, which also featured on banners hung from the drillship. Celebrities like Jared Leto and the official Beatles twitter page posted messages to their followers as well.
“We did what we came to do,” said Lawless. “Together we sent a clear message to Shell that has echoed across the globe — it’s time to draw a line in the ice and say: enough.”
According to Greenpeace: Shell is the first major international oil company to make exploitation of the Arctic a major focus. If the Noble Discoverer strikes oil this summer, other global oil giants will quickly follow and spark an Arctic oil rush. The company has a very tight window in which to drill for oil. Freezing temperatures, extreme weather conditions and a highly remote location pose unprecedented challenges, and make an Arctic oil spill virtually impossible to contain and clean up.
