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Council of Canadians expresses solidarity with the Paddle in Seattle

Ye Shell Not Pass

The Council of Canadians expresses solidarity with those organizing the Paddle in Seattle this coming May 16-18.

The Globe and Mail reports, “In a move that buoyed big oil but enraged environmentalists, the Obama administration has given the green light for Royal Dutch Shell to resume offshore drilling in the remote Arctic waters, off Alaska’s northwestern coast. Monday’s decision, which is conditional on Shell’s getting approval for remaining drilling permits for the project, is a major win for Shell and other petroleum companies, which have sought for years to drill in the harsh waters of the Chukchi Sea, which is believed to hold vast reserves of the world’s undiscovered oil and gas.”

Two massive drilling rigs are now en route to the Arctic. The article continues, “Mass protests are planned for this weekend as activists in flotillas of kayaks will stage a ‘Festival of Resistance’ in an attempt to keep the drilling rigs, Polar Pioneer and the Noble Discoverer, from berthing in Seattle.”

The sHellNo.org website says, “From May 16 to May 18, join us in Seattle for three days of creative, people-powered resistance to Shell and the climate crisis. We will converge on the Seattle waterfront by land and sea, transforming Terminal 5 and Harbor Island into a festival of resistance that will nonviolently block Shell’s preparations for Arctic drilling.”

Five years ago the Council of Canadians called on the governments of Canada, the United States, Russia, Greenland, Denmark and Norway to place a moratorium on offshore drilling in Arctic waters. Today we are standing with the people of Clyde River, Nunavut to demand an immediate moratorium on seismic testing and a ban on offshore drilling in the Arctic Ocean.

To add your voice to this campaign, please click on our action alert Help protect the Arctic from dangerous seismic testing.

For more on the Paddle in Seattle, click here.

Further reading
Foreign Ministers: Arctic is not for sale, leave it in the ground! (March 2010 blog by Andrea Harden-Donahue)
Federal Court asked to halt seismic testing in Clyde River (April 2015 by Mark Calzavara)