Fennica or No, Shell’s Halting Its Arctic Drilling Ambitions

• Dirk VanderHart
• Greenpeace activists dangling from the St. Johns Bridge in late July

Mother nature might have finished what 13 bridge danglers helped kickstart in late July. Royal Dutch Shell says it’s abandoning drilling operations in the Arctic, “for the foreseeable future.” From the New York Times:

The decision came after the Burger J well, which the company drilled this summer, produced disappointing results. The company said the well had “found indications of oil and gas, but these are not sufficient to warrant further exploration” of the Burger prospect, a geological structure.

Shell said that the decision reflected not only the disappointing results from the well but “the high costs associated with the project and the challenging and unpredictable federal regulatory environment in offshore Alaska.”

The announcement’s being met with jubilation in both environmental and political circles. Sen. Jeff Merkley said Shell being harried away from Alaska “is tremendous news, and a credit to the many people who made clear that offshore Arctic drilling is unacceptable. Drilling in the Arctic Ocean is the height of irresponsibility.”

Merkley’s been a consistent foe of Arctic drilling, repeating again and again Department of Interior estimations that the operations had a 75 percent chance of leading to an oil spill in the next 64 years—and that the hellish climate would make cleanup near impossible.

Greenpeace, the organization that masterminded the St. Johns Bridge danglers who attempted to trap a member of the Shell oil fleet in July, called Shell’s defeat “a victory for everyone who has stood up for the Arctic.”

“Whether they took to kayaks or canoes, rappelled from bridges, or spread the news in their own communities, millions of people around the world have taken action against Arctic drilling,” Greenpeace USA Executive Director Annie Leonard said in a statement. “Today they have made history.”

If Shell had found an oil bonanza in the Chukchi Sea, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. But reports suggest the controversy around Arctic exploration—combined with the lackluster results of this summer’s effort, and perils of the harsh environment up there—prompted the company to abandon the efforts.

The Pacific Northwest contributed enormously to illustrating the controversy. Whether it was “kayaktivists” harrying a massive drilling rig in Seattle, or Portland’s blockade of the ice breaker Shell sent for repairs here, activists in the Northwest forced the issue of Arctic drilling into international headlines.

Shell will seal and abandon the “Burger J” well, and Greenpeace and others are renewing their call for President Obama to ban further Arctic exploration, after he opened up the Chukchi Sea to the oil giant earlier this year.

“Today, President Obama can also make history by cancelling any future drilling and declaring the US Arctic Ocean off limits to oil companies,” Leonard said in her statement.