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Arctic shipping policy: What’s wrong with this picture
Arctic shipping policy: What’s wrong with this picture

Often we hear much talk about balancing economic and environmental concerns, and this idea -- which has widespread support -- is referred to as sustainable development. One of the places on earth where there has been substantial discussion of sustainable development is the Arctic. This is because the region contains abundant natural resources, such as oil, gas and minerals, that companies and governments are seeking to exploit. The region, as well, is seeing increasing amounts…

Great expectations: United States to lead Arctic Council
Great expectations: United States to lead Arctic Council

On April 24, at the Ministerial meeting in Iqaluit, Nunavut, the United States will chair the Arctic Council, taking over from Canada. The last time the U.S. held the gavel at the Council -- a high-level intergovernmental forum composed of eight nations and six native organizations focused on sustainable development and environmental protection in the Arctic region -- was 2000. Much has transpired in the Arctic in the time since the U.S. last chaired the…

Lifting the crude oil export ban would magnify already substantial ship traffic risks off Alaskas coastline

The Aleutian Islands—an archipelago stretching for over a thousand miles from the coast of southeast Alaska towards the far east of Russia—is remote and ruggedly beautiful terrain. Its shores and surrounding marine waters, including the Bering Sea, provide key habitat for abundant seabird colonies, endangered Steller sea lions, and Pacific cod spawning groundsSubsistence fishing and hunting by Alaska Natives also occur in this expanse. Despite the region’s important cultural significance and remarkable…

A containers pivotal role in Robert Redfords new movie, All is Lost
A containers pivotal role in Robert Redfords new movie, All is Lost

A harrowing new film entitled All is Loststarring Robert Redford, whose character tests his mettle against the sea, features an item familiar to many in the maritime and logistics communities: the shipping container.  I’ve yet to see the movie, but the trailer starts out with Redford’s character’s yacht being punctured by an overboard container and the vessel taking in water.  Although the risk of this occurring in real life is minor, it does…

Repository of Friends of the Earth submissions on the IMOs Polar Code
Repository of Friends of the Earth submissions on the IMOs Polar Code

With Arctic sea ice melting dramatically due to global warming and natural resource development and trade on the upswing, the region is confronting substantial growth in commercial shipping within its waters. Increased Arctic shipping raises threats not only to human health and welfare, but also to the Arctic’s pristine environment.  Sewage dumping, oily bilge water discharges, oil and fuel spills, invasive species, toxic air pollutants, and climate-forcing emissions of black carbon are just some of…

The specter of Arctic shipping
The specter of Arctic shipping

Two recent articles outline well some of the harms that Arctic shipping, and shipping more generally, poses to the environment.  Rick Steiner, a former professor at the University of Alaska, writes, in particular, about shipping through the Unimak Pass of the Aleutian Island chain, as well as the Bering Strait.  He argues that not enough safeguards have been put in place along the Aleutians in the eight years since the grounding of the…

Greens need to advocate in all relevant fora to protect the Arctic from increasing shipping

Arctic summer sea ice extent reached an all-time record low on September 16.  The rapid nature of the changes in the region has many scientists concerned, and the implications on weather systems and marine ecosystems could be profound.  The shipping sector, though, sees the effect of climate change on the Arctic including sea ice loss as a potential boon, enabling greater access to natural resources and opening shorter trade routes between commercial hubs…

Oil and gas drilling in the Alaskan Arctic
Oil and gas drilling in the Alaskan Arctic

Absent the success of an eleventh hour legal challenge by environmental groups, Shell will begin exploratory drilling off the coast of northern Alaska this summer. Up to five wells could be drilled in the area -- the first time the company has attempted drilling exploratory wells since the 1980s. A spike in oil prices in the early 2000s enticed Shell back to the region, and in 2005 it bid $44 million for Beaufort Sea…

Slow ships down to protect whales in the Arctic
Slow ships down to protect whales in the Arctic

As shipping continues to expand in the Arctic, whales in the region are expected to experience increased impacts as a result of underwater noise and ship strikes.  A recent study looking at stress levels of right whales in Canada’s Bay of Fundy found that those levels dropped off significantly immediately after September 11, 2011, when shipping along the east coast essentially ceased in the wake of the terrorist attacks.  Stress is thought to…

Bye-bye bunker fuel?
Bye-bye bunker fuel?

The Antarctic already has a ban in place on the use of bunker fuel by ships, the US and Canada are getting an Emission Control Area in August which could likely phase out bunker use in North American waters, and the EU is being pressured to eliminate bunker use by passenger ships in response to the Costa Concordia disaster.  Isn’t it time to end the use of bunker in the Arctic,…