Greenpeace Activists Occupy Oil Rig In Arctic Drilling Protest (PHOTOS)

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- Greenpeace activists climbed aboard a huge oil rig off Istanbul on Friday in a bid to prevent it from reaching Greenland to begin deep-water drilling in the Arctic, but later abandoned their protest because of bad weather.

The environmental group said eleven activists, some in rock-climbing gear, used speedboats to intercept and then climb atop the Leiv Eiriksson at dawn after it had left a port in Istanbul. They climbed the rig's derrick, unfurling a banner that read: "Stop Arctic destruction" and "Go Beyond Oil, Choose Clean Energy."

The platform, one of the world's largest, did not stop and continued on its course to Greenland's Baffin Bay, crossing through the Dardanelles strait and heading toward Greek waters, said Deniz Sozudogru, a Greenpeace spokeswoman for the Mediterranean region.

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In this photo dated Friday, April 22, 2011 provided by Greenpeace, activists climb aboard the oil rig Leiv Eiriksson to prevent its departure for Greenland to begin drilling in the Arctic, in the Sea of Marmara near Istanbul, Turkey. The environmental group said Friday activists used speedboats to intercept and climb aboard the Leiv Eiriksson as it left Istanbul and were prepared to occupy the rig for days. (AP Photo/Greenpeace, HO)

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In this photo dated Friday, April 22, 2011 provided by Greenpeace, activists climb aboard the oil rig Leiv Eiriksson to prevent its departure for Greenland to begin drilling in the Arctic, in the Sea of Marmara near Istanbul, Turkey. The environmental group said Friday activists used speedboats to intercept and climb aboard the Leiv Eiriksson as it left Istanbul and were prepared to occupy the rig for days. (AP Photo/Greenpeace, HO)

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Sozudogru said six activists left the rig on speed boats as it crossed the Dardanelles, which connects the Sea of Marmara to the Aegean, but five remained. However, a heavy gale then forced the remaining activists to give up the protest.

Scottish company Cairn Energy PLC, which operates the rig, confirmed the activists had departed.

The company said it was operating at the invitation of Greenland's government and had successfully drilled three wells there in 2010.

"Wherever it is active, Cairn seeks to operate in a safe and prudent manner," a Cairn statement said, adding that it also "respects the rights of individuals and organizations to express their views in a safe manner."

Greenpeace wants Cairn to suspend deep-water drilling after the spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

"Freezing temperatures, severe weather and a highly remote location pose unprecedented challenges to any oil spill response in the Arctic and mean a spill could be impossible to contain and clean up," Greenpeace said in a statement.

Leiv Eiriksson had been exploring possible oil and gas in the Black Sea under a joint venture between Turkey and Brazil's Petrobas.

Comments

[angelofru]

10:02 AM on 05/15/2011

They all say we operate in a safe and prudent manner. Untill the oil is spilled all over the place.

[tnlcallen]

01:03 PM on 04/26/2011

mmmmm Green Peas.

[Garioch]

12:47 PM on 04/26/2011

I worked offshore for Cairn years ago. No idea what they're like now but they were a bit of a ramshackle mob back then, I'd be hesitant in getting on any installation of theirs even if it were just to protest to be honest.

[padrushka]

10:36 AM on 04/26/2011

The rig has a scandinavian name, the co is scottish, leaving turkey to go to the arctic. Who is in charge and is all this muddle intended to confuse? Does everyone who can finance have a piece of the action or are there buried rules and laws somewhere if anyone wanted to look?

[givemtheirwish]

12:25 AM on 04/25/2011

Renewables part iii

In terms of resource use, the infrastructure of a wind farm takes five to 10 times the steel and concrete used in a 1970-vintage nuclear power plant.
“Cheerful self-delusion about new solar and renewables since 1970 has yet to produce a single quad of the more than 90 quadrillion BTU of total energy the U.S. now yearly consumes. ... Let’s stop sanctifying false and minor gods and heretically chant ‘Renewables are not Green.’”
Greens traditionally oppose nuclear power wherever and whenever they can. Even those Greens that say it’s time to consider nuclear power seem to be paying no more than lip service to the concept — witness the lack of progress on greenhouse gas-free nuclear power despite all the hoopla about the supposed fossil fuel-caused manmade climate change.
“Like computers, to grow larger, the energy system must now shrink in size and cost. Considered in watts per square meter, nuclear has astronomical advantages over its competitors.”

[givemtheirwish]

12:24 AM on 04/25/2011

Renewables part II

“Increased use of biomass fuel in any form is criminal.” “Every automobile would require a pasture of 1-2 hectares.”
Wind power? While it’s much less land intensive than biomass, that’s not saying much. A 770-square-kilometer area would only produce as much electricity as a single 1,000 Megawatt nuclear plant.
A wind farm the size of Texas would be required to extract, store and transport annual U.S. energy needs. “Every square meter of Connecticut” would have to be turned into a wind farm to provide all of New York City’s electricity demands.
Solar power is also quite a land hog. As photovoltaic cells are only 10 percent efficient and have seen no breakthroughs in 30 years, U.S. electric consumption would require a 150,000-square kilometer area of photovoltaics, plus additional land for electricity storage and retrieval.
The photovoltaic industry would have to step up its production by 600,000 times to produce the same amount of power as that generated by single 1,000 Megawatt nuclear plant.
Aside from land misuse, itl also raises the other undesirable consequences of renewables: wind power produces low-frequency noise and thumps, blights landscapes, interferes with TV reception, and chops birds and bats; dams kill rivers; and solar power would require that large areas of land be essentially “painted black” with photovoltaic cells.

[givemtheirwish]

12:22 AM on 04/25/2011

Renewables part I
If you could collect the average annual rainfall of the 900,000-square-kilometer Canadian province of Ontario — about 680,000 billion liters of water — and store it behind a dam 60 meters tall, you would produce about 11,000 Megawatts of electricity — which is only about 80 percent of the output of Canada’s 25 nuclear power stations.
In other words, this works out to a power production rate of 0.012 watts per square meter of land. It would take 1 square kilometer of land to provide enough electricity for about 12 Canadians say this inefficiency is a key reason for the reduced demand for hydroelectric power.

Large-scale power generation from biomass would require that vast areas be shaved or harvested annually. It would take 2,500 square kilometers of prime Iowa farmland to produce as much electricity from biomass as from a single nuclear power plant.Biomass is an even worse renewable source of energy than hydroelectric power in terms of ecological harm.

[Trickish Knave]

10:15 AM on 04/24/2011

Another (lame) example of symbolism over substance.

[buckeyedave]

08:29 AM on 04/24/2011

I wonder what kind of fuel their speed boats used? Deep fryer oil?

[givemtheirwish]

10:40 AM on 04/23/2011

On a related subject........We can’t drill for offshore oil in the United States, but we can give billions of dollars to Brazil so they can. We haven’t built a refinery in the United States since 1976, but we can give Colombia $2.84 billion so they can build one. Hey that makes perfect sense (if you're an UIOGS).
DRILL BABY, DRILL

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/feds-plan-284-billion-loan-oil-refinery

[jamie3529gq]

08:56 AM on 04/23/2011

they might have had a shred of credibility had they canoed out to the rig....

[Cowoak]

09:52 PM on 04/22/2011

What is that a pillow case that says "clean energy now"?

So they got on a boat and wasted all that fuel to hang a pillow case up that you could barely see in their own picture. Desperately lame!

[Boobuzuela]

09:31 PM on 04/22/2011

Drilling in the Arctic?

What could possibly go wrong?

[lightningbolt]

04:52 PM on 04/22/2011

This is the kind of activism we need to see all over the world.  We must take over BP gas stations and offices as a warning to any future oil spillers.

[givemtheirwish]

10:38 AM on 04/23/2011

& you must start taking your Thorazine again, double dose.............

[lightningbolt]

05:19 PM on 04/23/2011

There's nothing wrong with me.  Those who support offshore drilling and the oil industry are the ones who need medication.

[Trickish Knave]

10:14 AM on 04/24/2011

Taking over gas stations is both idiotic and asinine as very few oil companies actually own the gas stations.You will do nothing but hurt the local business owners.

[charles77]

02:11 PM on 04/24/2011

"Taking over gas stations is both idiotic and asinine "

Sounds like Greenpeace's mission statement.

[CivilDebate10]

04:38 PM on 04/22/2011

When will Greenpeace ever be brought up on RICO charges. Enough of their silliness and crimes. Its time some of their extremists went to jail... for a long time.

[lovemycivicduty]

05:23 PM on 04/22/2011

Sounds civil enough: They can sit in a prison cell for working to save our planet from destruction and abuse. We teach children not to abuse and humiliate nature, it is cruel and destructive...but corporations and ignorant people, apparently that's a whole other issue.

[ttaz4dqm]

06:08 PM on 04/22/2011

Good to see some consistency between your handle and your attitude...?!?