Remember the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010? Almost 5 million barrels of oil were spilled into the sea. The whole world noticed – it was a disaster.
Yet it is estimated that the Russian oil industry spills 30 million barrels of oil each year into remote landscapes.
30 million barrels each year!
It’s not publicised – and it’s not cleaned up.
Extreme weather conditions combined with a lack of maintenance have resulted in a slow but constant seepage of oil from pipeline ruptures.
This leaked oil spreads and becomes a thick, heavy mire, suffocating plants and animals, and seeping into rivers and farmland.
It contaminates food and water supplies, and once-clean rivers, forests and air now pose serious health risks.
It’s argued that the land is “uninhabited”. By humans, yes – mostly. But there is plant and animal life. And indigenous people rely on reindeer herding, hunting and fishing for their livelihood.
Many are forced to abandon their homes. Reindeer won’t eat the contaminated moss and lichen, and there are no longer enough live fish to sustain people.
Russia has one of the highest rates of suicide in the world – but amongst indigenous communities, the suicide rates are almost three times this already-high level.
Valery Bratenkov is a foreman at a Russian oil field. He used to point out spills to his bosses and asked them to repair the pipelines. “They were offended and said that costs too much money.” (Source: Associated Press (AP) on location with Greenpeace)
Inhabitants of Ust’-Usa in remote Arctic Russia say Spring is a terrible time. Oil leaks from pipeline ruptures, then, with the rising temperatures in summer, it’s all flushed with the melt-water into the rivers. “In springtime it is the worst,” they say. “Then you have got oil in the water, in the air, in the food, everywhere. It stinks of oil. The spring is one of the worst seasons.”
The conditions are extreme, and the locations remote with little or no infrastructure.
These spills occur on land.
What will happen when oil companies drill in the Arctic seas?
Previously classified government documents state that spills will be inevitable, and that dealing with oil spills in the freezing Arctic waters is “almost impossible”.
The Arctic is a pristine environment and one of the earths’ last great wildernesses. Destroying it and its wildlife diversity will affect everyone.
What can you do?
Support actions to stop drilling in the Arctic.
You may find the following websites useful, or just search the internet for “Arctic Drilling” or “Stop Arctic Drilling”.
Save the Arctic: http://www.savethearctic.org/
NRDC: Ban Oil Drilling in the Arctic
Center for Biological Diversity Arctic Oil Development
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