Same Story: Two Sources. Take Your Pick
HERE IS GREEENPEACE’S VERSION
by Nick Young, June 6, 2011
Today an Amsterdam court judge turned the tables on Cairn Energy. Rather than granting an injunction against Greenpeace, he instead suggested that the oil company might actually like to consider releasing its secret Arctic Oil Spill Response Plan!
Cairn’s lawyers looked dumbfounded and stuttered about not knowing why their client won’t release it.
The judge went on to say that BP’s skimping on a second valve cost the world billions as a result of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. He said BP must regret that they didn’t have their plans scrutinized in the first place because someone would have noticed the lack of a second valve. Safety is in everyone’s interest – by being transparent perhaps there is an opportunity to make the spill plan stronger. In fact, he asked Cairn, why won’t you release your plan? Right now? Why don’t you release it now?
We couldn’t have said it better.
We’ll try and get this news through to the eighteen activists currently in jail in Greenland. They were arrested after scaling Cairn’s rig in the Arctic on Saturday to demand the plan be made public. For them this will be happy vindication of their action.
Cairn’s lawyers used the same tired excuses saying they could not release the plan as this would be against the wishes of the Greenlandic authorities. However our independent legal advice shows that this is a load of rubbish.
There is nothing whatsoever stopping Cairn releasing the plan.
By this time the Cairn lawyers were sweating a bit, but the judge still wasn’t finished.
He went on to ask how Cairn would pay for any oil spill clean up. He was highly unimpressed when Cairn’s legal team tried to reassure him that it had a cap on financial exposure. The judge said he didn’t think the concern is over the health of Cairn’s finances – the concern is the impact on the environment and the cost of the clean up!
So, now the Dutch court is joining us and the 18 activists currently jailed in Greenland in demanding the secret oil spill response plan be made public.
Cairn should cease drilling operations immediately. It does not need to wait for the final ruling to release the secret spill plan. They can do it now. Their claim in court that they cannot because Greenland is preventing it is bogus. Every minute it’s allowed to drill in the Arctic poses an unacceptable threat to the pristine environment in a search for oil we cannot afford to burn.
Cairn took a beating in the court room today trying to silence peaceful protest and hide from public scrutiny. The people of Greenland should be very worried about the kind of people who are drilling for oil off their coast. And their investors should be asking themselves just what it is that no one is being allowed to see, and how big a risk they are exposing themselves to.
The Judge will make a final ruling on the injunction on Wednesday evening. It’s not over yet – so watch this space.
For now we’ll stay put here in the Davis Strait off the coast of Greenland. [See story in GREENEPEACE]
…….AND HERE IS THE WALL STREET JOURNAL’S VERSION
by Archibald Preuschat & Alexis Flynn, DOW JONES NEWS SERVICE, June 6, 2011
An Amsterdam district court said Monday it will rule Wednesday on an injunction filed by Cairn Energy PLC (CNE.LN) to prevent environmental group Greenpeace from further disrupting its drilling activities offshore Greenland.
The court must decide if Greenpeace has to pay EUR2 million for each day Cairn’s operations are affected.
Edinburgh-based oil and gas explorer Cairn is currently the only company planning to drill in the region after disappointing results from a campaign last year. But Greenpeace has said if Cairn strikes oil this summer it will spark an oil rush that would devastate the fragile Arctic environment.
In a three-and-half hour hearing at the Amsterdam District court, Cairn’s lawyers said Greenpeace activists violated safety standards by carrying lighters when boarding the Leiv Eriksson rig around 100 miles offshore Greenland in a bid to disrupt Cairn’s imminent drilling campaign. Lighters are strictly forbidden on rigs.
The Greenpeace lawyer rejected the claim and said the environmental group doesn’t aim to harm anyone when carrying out its actions.
The hearing was held at the Amsterdam district court because the two vessels Greenpeace uses to reach the oil rigs are registered in the Netherlands.
Cairn maintains that its drilling offshore Greenland is safe. It has the full permission of the Greenlandic authorities for its activities.
Greenland, a semi-autonomous part of Denmark, is widely believed to hold huge amounts of oil and gas offshore.
Earlier Monday, Greenpeace said it has stepped up its campaign by lodging an official complaint with the Greenlandic parliament calling for the release of an oil spill response plan, which it says is being kept secret by the authorities in Greenland. [See story in the WSJ]