Erin Mooney |
Despite a Global oil glut and the apparent worthlessness of oil in Scottish Waters, international Oil Companies are steaming in to the Arctic to retrieve the huge oil and gas reserves believed to lie there.
Technically and logistically this presents huge challenges.
You will know that the Arctic is home to Santa and is very remote. Moving drilling equipment there is a dangerous and noisy business. The reindeer are not happy. Neither are the polar bears, nor the whales. Environmental concerns should be a priority for Oil Companies and for the Inuit people living there.
The Arctic Ocean is being subjected to 259 decibel explosions.
This is almost twice the volume of a Jet engine. You may be wondering why. The answer is that big oil companies want to get their hands on a possible oil gold mine, so to speak. In some areas of this ocean rare species of whales rely on sound waves to communicate. Now, if you think that 259 decibels is loud to a human being, can you begin to imagine how loud this is to a sensitive whale?
Answer: VERY LOUD!
Consequently immediate damage to wildlife is now occurring. Should we continue with this exploration we raise the possibility of accidents and maybe environmental disasters.
In the BP Oil Spill, more than 200 million gallons of crude oil was pumped into the Gulf of Mexico for a total of 87 days, making it the biggest oil spill in U.S. history.
It would be very difficult, given the remoteness of the arctic, to respond quickly and clean up such a mess.
Given the long dark days at the Pole it would be a long time before any sort of recovery would be achieved.
The Oil exploration licence is not mine, but maybe the Arctic is.
