Arctic drilling

The thawing Arctic was once thought to represent a proverbial gold mine for oil drillers, with an estimated 90 billion barrels of oil reserves yet to be tapped. That’s 16% of the world’s undiscovered reserves. But the oil industry has backed away from the region, principally due to the economics of operating in the region. That, and of course, US sanctions on working with Russia on joint ventures in the region. Even Exxon, whose former CEO is Secretary of State, was denied a waiver from those sanctions.

But Norway continues its oil exploration in the Arctic, in defiance of the country’s green reputation as defenders of the environment. Today, I signed a Greenpeace petition, which it will submit to the country’s Supreme Court as further evidence that Norway’s drilling would be in contrivance of its own environmental pledges.