Unalaskan opponents of Shell's plans to drill for oil in the Arctic Ocean gathered on a rocky point with banners warning of oil spills and other environmental impacts last Friday, with around 35 people holding up banners at Arch Rock, with Shell vessels anchored in the background.
Shell was criticized at a meeting in Unalaska earlier last week. About 35 local residents showed up, mostly opposed to Shell's drilling plans in the Chukchi Sea, about 1,000 miles to the north in Arctic Ocean. The meeting was organized by two visitors who had earlier protested against Shell in Seattle, where kayakers surrounded oil company vessels, Kurtis Dengler, of Seattle, the nephew of local environmentalist Suzi Golodoff, and George Pletnikoff Jr, of Palmer.
The Dutch Harbor Food and Bait Herring Fishery opens this week, with three boats registered, “pretty similar to last year,” said Alaska Department of Fish and Game area biologist Matthew Keyse in Sand Point.
The allocation of 1,878 tons for purse seiners is down from last year's quota of 2099 tons, Keyse said, noting that last year's quota was not completely harvested. The three small boats rounded up 1,600 tons in seine nets in about four days, he said.
As Shell gears up to drill in the Chukchi Sea this summer, the Coast Guard is getting ready, too. At an Arctic symposium in Washington D.C. this morning, the head of the U.S. Coast Guard outlined the difficulties the service will face in the Chukchi Sea this summer, and in the Arctic generally.
Coast Guard Commandant Paul Zukunft says if Shell is allowed to drill in the Chukchi Sea this summer, the Coast Guard will be there with five ships and two aircraft. But, the admiral says, nothing about the Arctic is easy.
An icebreaker leased to Shell sprang a leak and had to return to Dutch Harbor early Friday morning. The MV Fennica carries the company’s capping stack — a critical piece of safety equipment for Shell’s plan to drill two wells this summer in the Chukchi Sea.
Coast Guard spokesman Shawn Eggert says the ship’s crew noticed the problem around 3 a.m.
“The Motor Vessel Fennica was departing from the port of Dutch Harbor, Alaska when the crew discovered that they had water coming in to their Port No. 4 ballast tank. At that point they returned to port and tied up at the Delta Western dock,” he said. “Divers there discovered a one-inch wide by three foot long fracture in the ship’s hull.”
The Coast Guard Cutter Sherman had to return to Dutch Harbor a few days early this week. The cutter and its crew were forced to turn back from a regular patrol in the Bering Sea when one of the ship’s diesel engines malfunctioned.
The Sherman has a long history. It was first launched in 1968.
“So the ship’s very, very old,” said Alex Oswald. He is a Junior Officer on board. He serves as the ship’s Public Affairs Specialist.
Another cruise ship arrived in Dutch Harbor Friday the Silver Discoverer is carrying 100 passengers. It will be in port only for the day. It’s one of eight ships slated to stop at the Eastern Aleutian port this summer. Convention and Visitor’s Bureau Executive Director Cathy Jordan said that number is up from previous years.
"The most ships we’ve ever had were 11 in 2009," said Jordan. "So, we are seeing a rise in ships coming this year.”
Two men have been sentenced in U.S. District Court to serve 21 months in federal prison for burglarizing the post office in Sand Point.
21-year old Sheldon Wilson Shuravloff, and 19-year-old Keith Lee Wilson, Jr., both of Sand Point, previously pled guilty to burglarizing the Sand Point post office in the early morning hours on December 28, 2014.
The burglary caused more than $15,000 in damage to the post office and shut down the facility for a week while the investigation and repairs were completed.
Billions of dollars worth of drilling equipment and support vessels operated by Royal Dutch Shell are sitting out in the Bay in front of Dutch Harbor this week. The company has plans to take most of that equipment north for exploratory drilling operations later this summer. Many of the local businesses could benefit from the oil giant’s presence.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service issued a Letter of Authorization today [Tuesday] to Shell. The authorization allows the oil company to “take small numbers of Polar bears and Pacific walrus incidental to activities occurring during its ‘Outer Continental Shelf 2015’ exploration drilling program in the Chukchi Sea” this summer.
In an accompanying email, Department of Interior Press Secretary Jessica Kershaw writes that “It is important to note that [the Letter of Authorization] does not green-light Shell’s activity this summer, nor does it preclude Shell’s proposed activity.” According to Kershaw, in order to proceed with exploratory drilling, Shell will have to comply with the “Letter [of Authorization] and strong federal oversight.”
