Activists Vow to Continue Arctic Drill Ship Occupation into Third Day

Auckland, 25 February 2012 — Actor Lucy Lawless and Greenpeace New Zealand activists this afternoon vowed to continue their occupation of Arctic bound Shell drillship Noble Discoverer into a third day.

Aucklander Ilai Amir was forced to end his involvement in the occupation this afternoon for personal reasons (1). Before climbing down he said “I’m proud of what we’ve achieved here and I will still be with the team in spirit, as they continue to make sure that Shell hears the message loud and clear: The world does not want your reckless Arctic oil.”

The remaining five activists and Lawless have vowed to fight on. They remain camped out on the top of the ship’s 53 metre drilling tower and intend to stay put for a second night. They are calling on Shell CEO Peter Voser to cancel its plans to open up the Arctic to oil drilling.

Since the activists boarded the ship yesterday morning over 96,000 people worldwide have emailed the Shell CEO asking him to drop the company’s Arctic oil drilling plans. It has also captured media attention across the world.

Commenting from the top of the Noble Discoverer Lucy Lawless said, “Shell has said that they are very disappointed with Greenpeace for launching this direct action. Well we’re disappointed that they are planning to drill in the pristine Arctic. And overnight 95,000 people have also written to Shell to express their disappointment.”

“Shell use words like ‘safe’ and ‘environmentally responsible’ but this is laughable. The fact is that if drilling is allowed to go ahead it’s not a question of if there will be an oil spill in the Arctic, it’s a question of when.”

ENDS

For more information Greenpeace briefing on Shell’s Arctic plans can be found at:

(1) http://greenpeace.org.nz/briefing/Shell_and_oil_exploration_off_Alaska.pdf

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