Two activists tie themselves to anchor chain of ship in Shell’s Arctic fleet
Seattle: Two activists tied themselves to the anchor chain of a Shell Oil vessel not far from Seattle on Friday in the latest installment of protests against the company’s planned return to Arctic drilling.
The pair of women broached a court-ordered exclusion zone around craft in Shell’s Arctic fleet, currently moored in Seattle and the surrounding area.
In this case the intrepid duo boarded the barge American Trader in Bellingham, a little north of Seattle, and used camping gear and hammocks to attach themselves to the massive chain of the anchor.
After about five hours garnering media attention for their cause the pair consented to being taken down from the anchor by US Coast Guard personnel, who took them to Coast Guard Station Bellingham, where police officers placed them under arrest.
Shell is still awaiting some federal permits before it can return to the Beaufort and Chukchi seas off Alaska to resume exploratory drilling for the first time in three years. Its fleet has been using Seattle and nearby waters as a staging post as it prepares its rigs for the trip north.
Protesters fear any sizeable spillage in the Arctic could be destructive to the ecosystem and they don’t believe Shell’s claims to have an effective clean-up plan should the worst happen.
