Saturday, August 01, 2015

Activists Dangle From Oregon Bridge for 2nd Day to Protest Arctic Drilling

Activists Dangle From Oregon Bridge for 2nd Day to Protest Arctic Drilling

Activists protesting Shell’s Arctic aspirations dangled from the St. Johns Bridge in Portland, Ore., on Wednesday.                    
Some of the 13 activists from Greenpeace are providing live updates from their swaying bivouacs beneath the St. Johns Bridge, where they unfurled banners and stayed roped together to form a blockade as helpers on the bridge lowered supplies in sacks.   
According to the Greenpeace blog, the icebreaker Fennica leased by Shell was prevented on Wednesday from joining the rest of the drilling fleet in the Arctic. Unless it does so, the company will be unable to proceed with drilling in the Chukchi Sea. The vessel is carrying a piece of equipment that is used to cap an oil well in the event of a blowout.
A Shell spokesman, Curtis Smith, told The Associated Press: “As for the activities of the day, we respect the choice that anyone might make to protest based on Shell’s Arctic aspirations; we just ask that they do so safely and within the boundaries of the law.    
On Thursday morning, the icebreaker started moving toward the bridge, with Coast Guard vessels nearby, and then retreated. The activists cleared out of the way for a barge, unrelated to the protest, to pass through.
The protest against Shell’s Arctic drilling plans in Portland follows another in Washington State, where protesters, some in kayaks, helped muster public pressure to seek a delay of the mooring of Shell’s rigs.
It is not clear how long the activists can sustain their midair protest site over the Willamette River. Kayakers have been working in shifts, Daphne Wysham, a member of the group, told The Oregonian.
The executive director of Greenpeace USA, Annie Leonard, said in an interview at the start of the protest that the bridge danglers and the kayakers were a “line of defense.”
“And these activists, in the air and on water, are right now the last thing that stands between Shell Oil and its absolutely pathological plans to drill for oil in the Arctic this summer,” she said in an interview with Democracy Now!
          Activists in Oregon Suspend Themselves from Bridge to Block Arctic-Bound Oil Ship Video by Democracy Now!
A spokesman for the local sheriff’s office, Lt. Steve Alexander, said on Wednesday in The Oregonian that the authorities were there in case anyone fell from the bridge and to keep the river navigable.
Videos posted by Greenpeace USA show sacks of supplies being lowered to the dangling activists.
On a Reddit forum, the activists described some of the conditions, such as how they prepared for the heat of 100 degrees Fahrenheit: with long-sleeve shirts, sunscreen, shade and water. They are also posting images and updates on Twitter from the protest via #ShellNo of the view from their suspended sites.        

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