Oil in the Antarctic!
Diamonds in the Arctic!
The whole world (read the
business community) leaped in joy. The excitement was palpable. The search for
a cheaper alternate energy source suddenly seemed not necessary. The OIL
magazine – an energy industry quarterly dedicated its whole March 2013 issue to
celebrate the great discovery. Gianni di
Giovanni its editor in chief remarked that the new frontier in energy
procurement runs along the Arctic Circle.
Russia officially became the first
country to start drilling the ice caps. And it went a step further by
demonstrating its stern commitment to its efforts by labelling and convicting Greenpeace
activists with piracy. And with Russia’s bold move came similar responses from
other nations, who too suddenly jumped the bandwagon to claim their share of
the pie. Many nations since then have even formulated a military strategy for
the poles.
It’s an accepted fact that the industrial
revolution has made us energy hungry. Fossil fuels are the cheapest, most
economical source of this energy – another undeniable fact. The last decade has
been particularly tricky with the need to find a balance between sourcing cheap
energy and rejuvenating the badly damaged ecology. The various conferences and
treaties signed since the Kyoto protocol seemed to be the right step forward.
But then a few months back, the Russian move suddenly made all these treaties
mere words writing on a worthless piece of paper.
Drilling in the remote and harsh but pristine
environment of the poles poses two distinct risks:
- Risks to human life working at the rigs
- Environmental risks
The year 2012 was supposed to be a big
year for Royal Dutch Shell. The company announced its plans to drill for oil
off the coast of Alaska. The coup de grace came on New Year’s even when their
rig ran aground near Kodiak. This blunder required the efforts of around 500 personnel
and the coast guard working day in and out in the harsh climate to secure the
rig. Soon Shell struggled to meet most of the US government’s safety
requirements. And in 2013 – they abandoned the project. An independent audit
later confirmed that the company did not have the equipment nor the capability
to drill in such harsh climatic conditions.
The environmental risks posed by polar
drilling are – (1) releasing trapped methane from the caps (2) oil spills and
(3) tampering with the pristine ecology.
It is estimated that around 1700 billion tons
of methane is trapped in the polar ice caps. Methane is a powerful greenhouse
gas and has the capacity to accelerate global warming at an exponential rate.
This factor is never accounted for in the calculations that lead the big energy
houses and governments to initiate the idea of polar drilling. In the event of
a methane leak from the poles, the effects of climate change such as sea level
rise, unpredictable climate etc. would be experienced at a much larger scale
than otherwise predicted.
The next major concern from polar
drilling is an oil spill. We have already seen the impacts of oil spills on
marine lives and coastal communities. Today we do have technology that can be
used to mitigate the effects of such spills. But as Shell’s blunder rightly
pointed out – we lack the expertise and the technology to counter such an event
at the poles. It would simply be catastrophic.
And finally our biggest concern is
destroying the last remaining pristine ecology on earth. We in our quest for
energy, power and money have plundered the entire world, messed with the
ecology and experimented with the balance of nature. Through all these years of
mismanagement and stupidity we have learnt the lesson and hence there now
exists the need to go green. But the whole drama surrounding the oil exploration
exercises at the poles suggests that we as human beings cannot change our
originality, but simply put a cloak of pretentiousness.
And now we hear there is abundant coal
and diamond reserves as well!
Wake up Earthizen!
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