Greenland's Prime Minister Lambasts Greenpeace for Raid on Arctic Oil Rig

by Severin Carrell, Guardian

The prime minister of Greenland has accused Greenpeace of threatening the safety of oil workers and the environment after four activists forced a controversial deep-sea exploration rig in the Arctic to shut down today.

Just before dawn, the four campaigners used three high-speed inflatable boats to evade the Danish navy before clambering on to the British-owned rig and slinging mountaineering-type platforms beneath it about 15 metres above the sea. The raid forced the Edinburgh-based oil exploration firm Cairn Energy to suspend drilling, escalating tensions between the Greenlandic government and Greenpeace.

Kuupik Kleist, the government's socialist prime minister, denounced the campaigners' actions, claiming they were damaging the economy of the country, now largely independent from Denmark, and ignoring the strict environmental and safety regulations Greenland had imposed on oil companies.

"This is clearly an illegal act, ignoring the rules of democracy," he said in a statement. "The cabinet regards Greenpeace's action as very serious and an illegal attack on the country's constitutional rights. It is worrying that Greenpeace, in their hunt for media exposure, violate security rules made to protect human lives and the environment."

The Greenpeace action follows a standoff between the campaigners' ship, Esperanza, and an armed Danish frigate and Greenland police vessels in Baffin Bay, west of Greenland, where Cairn Energy is hoping to uncover major new reserves of oil or gas.

For the last nine days, the Esperanza has been closely shadowed by the frigate and Danish commandos while it circled a 500-metre exclusion zone around the rig, waiting for the chance to launch its direct action.

Cairn, which is drilling in an area known as "iceberg alley", announced last week it had detected gas in shallow sands, prompting alarm among environmentalists.

Campaigners warn this will lead to a dangerous rush to exploit one of the world's last major untapped oil and gas fields in one of the planet's most fragile locations. Greenpeace has described the site as an important battleground in the campaign against climate change.

The US Geological Survey estimated last year that there could be 90bn barrels of oil and 50tn cubic metres of gas across the Arctic. Several multinational oil companies, including Exxon, Chevron and Shell, are waiting for permission from Greenland to begin deep sea drilling around its coast.

Sim McKenna, a US Greenpeace campaigner and one of the four activists occupying the platform, said Greenland and Cairn were being "reckless" with a fragile and pristine environment.

"We intend to stay here for as long as possible and as long as necessary to stop this reckless drilling," he said. "The BP Gulf oil disaster showed us it's time to go beyond oil. The drilling rig we're hanging off could spark an Arctic oil rush, one that would pose a huge threat to the climate and put this fragile environment at risk."