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Arctic gets economic push Eight-nation council signs binding pact on oil spill response measures, sets stage for business forum, bars Greenpeace as observer Gary Park For Petroleum News
The eight-nation Arctic Council signed a legally binding pact in Sweden earlier in May on oil spill prevention measures while also placing the spotlight on “creating economic development” in the region.
Leona Aglukkaq, a Canadian government cabinet minister who has started a two-year term as council chairman, made no secret of her ambition to see resource development for the benefit of northerners, including indigenous peoples of Canada, the United States, Russia and the Nordic countries.
“A lot of work went into the (oil spill response deal),” she said. “It’s the first binding agreement of this nature in the Arctic region and we’ll be building on the prevention side in the next two years.”
Aglukkaq said the Canadian government is fully behind Arctic economic development, provided it is conducted in an environmentally responsible manner.
But she also insisted “It’s time to make sure science is relevant ... to improve the well-being and the prosperity of people who live in the Arctic.”
Aglukkaq, who was raised in the tiny Nunavut community of Gjoa Haven, said a pan-Arctic business forum will be launched by Canada later this year as a major initiative to spur trade and development by sharing entrepreneurial success among nations ringing the Arctic.
Six granted observer status Six nations — China, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea and Singapore — were granted observer status on the council, with Aglukkaq welcoming their interest in development, shipping and trade, although she insisted their presence will not “diminish or dilute” the power of the eight full members.
In another indirect message to opponents of resource development, Canada (using its right of veto) effectively blocked admission of the European Union because of the EU’s ban on seal meat and fur, while the council denied requested observer status for non-governmental organizations such as Greenpeace.
Aglukkaq said groups such as Greenpeace protest all the time, despite the fact that Arctic development is being reviewed by appropriate government bodies prior to approval.
She also noted that the council issued a joint statement on the “urgent” global need to prevent human activity from causing average warming of more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and expressing concerns about the “rapid changes in the climate and physical environment of the Arctic with widespread effects for societies and ecosystems and repercussions around the world.”
The Canadian branch of Greenpeace has called for a moratorium on drilling for fossil fuels in the Arctic, declaring it will “not stand by and let the government (of Prime Minister Stephen Harper) use the next two years to advance its destructive industrial agenda at the Arctic Council.”
“If Harper plans to do to the Arctic what he’s done to Canada, anyone who cares about the future of this fragile region should be scared,” said Christy Ferguson, Arctic campaign coordinator of Greenpeace Canada.
This little-recognized council has vaulted on to the international stage as melting Arctic ice has opened up vast reserves of minerals, oil and gas for potential exploitation. By some estimates, 90 billion barrels of oil and one-fifth of the planet’s untapped natural gas lie beneath the Arctic Ocean.
Joint industry program Separately, the London-based International Association of Oil & Gas Producers, whose member companies account for more than half the world’s oil output, is promoting the significant advance of industry efforts to improve the handling of oil spills in Arctic environments.
A joint industry program has made progress in the past year to focus on key areas of research by the association, which is funded and supported by companies such as BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Shell, Statoil and Total.
The initiative is probing what happens to oil when it disperses under ice, the environmental impacts of spills and the trajectory of spills in icy environments, while studying the effectiveness of remote-sensing to detect spills, the mechanical recovery of oil in ice and the controlled burning of oil.
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