US Coast Guard Creates 'Protest-Free Zone' in Alaska Oil Drilling Zone

Source: Common Dreams

Published on Friday, June 29, 2012 by Common Dreams
US Coast Guard Creates 'Protest-Free Zone' in Alaska Oil Drilling Zone
- Common Dreams staff

The US Coast Guard will establish and enforce "a 500-meter safety zone" around the Shell oil drilling vessel Noble Discoverer as it drills exploratory offshore wells in the sensitive arctic waters off the coast of Alaska beginning this July.

In documents obtained by the website Cryptome, the USGS says that "request for the temporary safety zone was made by Shell Exploration & Production Company due to safety concerns for both the personnel aboard the Noble Discoverer and the environment."

The 'buffer zone' would apply to all vessels, but the 'special rules' are clearly designed to make it more difficult for those trying to protest against the Shell's oil drilling in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas this summer. "For any group or individual intending to conduct lawful demonstrations in the vicinity of the Noble Discoverer," reads the USCG memo, "These demonstrations must be conducted outside the safety zone."

~snip~
While acknowledging the negative impact on the "environment and indigenous people" a mid-ocean collision caused by environmental activists attempting to block or board the ship could have in the arctic, the USCG report made no mention of what impact a massive oil spill in the area would have on the same.

Read more: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/06/29-2