Protesters began gathering in a riverside park in Portland Tuesday evening, planning to drop kayaks in the water to protest Wednesday’s scheduled launch of a ship to be used by Royal Dutch Shell for Arctic oil exploration.
The St. Johns Bridge is at a key location on the Fennica’s route from Portland to the Arctic.
Greenpeace USA executive director Annie Leonard says delaying the icebreaker will give President Obama more time to reconsider giving Shell the last permit it needs to drill.
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – A Royal Dutch Shell icebreaker that was the target of environmental protesters is leaving Portland, Oregon, bound for an Arctic drilling operation. The ship’s journey will take it beneath the bridge, down the Willamette River to the Columbia River which leads to the Pacific Ocean.
The activists are the latest group to stage waterborne demonstrations over the past three months in a bid to block Shell vessels from heading north, following similar demonstrations in Seattle and other Washington state port areas.
The ship had tried to leave earlier Thursday, but was forced to turn around by the protesters dangling from the bridge.
Protesters seized one of their last chances this week after the Fennica was gashed by an underwater obstruction in the Aleutian Islands and sent to Portland for repairs. Another 13 people are assisting those activists, using ropes to supply them with food, water and even diapers, the organization said. Up the hill, police had roped off the sidewalks on either side of the bridge and stood guard, turning away pedestrians and bicyclists.
At the court hearing Thursday in Anchorage, Gleason said the hourly fine against Greenpeace would increase over the next few days unless the blockade was lifted.
Environmentalists hope to delay the ship long enough for winter weather to prevent Shell from drilling until 2016.
The U.S. Coast Guard investigated and found that safety violations contributed to the incident.
“Climbers are on the St. Johns Bridge and we are not going anywhere”, Daniel Hendricks, a demonstrator, tweeted to SeattlePI.com A moment later, echoing famous words of France’s Gen. Robert Nivelle at the World War I Battle of Verdun, Hendricks declared: “The Fennica shall not pass”. By that time, they hoped the Obama administration would have a change of heart on the issue. They also have their phones to stay in the social-media loop.
While Shell announced Thursday that it would reduce its workforce by some 6,500 employees and cut capital investment by $7 billion, CEO Ben van Beurden told investors the company remains committed to its plans in Alaska’s Arctic offshore waters, calling them a “long-term play”.
