Opinion ID: 3066027
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Direct Action Against Cairn Energy’s Arctic

Text: Drilling Operation Shell adduced evidence that Greenpeace used direct action against another energy company, Cairn Energy, in order to prevent Cairn from conducting OCS oil and gas exploration activities in the Arctic Ocean. Greenpeace USA’s executive director described the first such action in Greenpeace International’s 2010 Annual Report: In August, our activists evaded Danish navy commanders and scaled Cairn’s exploration rig off Greenland, halting the operation – we 1 Greenpeace USA has admitted that its activists boarded the Harvey Explorer, but now argues – in passing – that the incident is “jurisdictionally irrelevant to the current case,” presumably because it took place in the Gulf of Mexico rather than the Arctic Ocean. SHELL OFFSHORE V . GREENPEACE 7 knew that, due to very tight deadlines, even a minor delay could have a major effect; Cairn didn’t find oil in 2010. Dkt. 56-19 (Ex. 1015 at 0005). In 2011, Greenpeace activists again boarded a Cairn vessel off the coast of Greenland. Approximately twenty such activists were arrested after climbing the rig, attaching themselves under the rig in a “survival pod,” and hanging a few meters from the drill bit. A news report posted on the Greenpeace Africa website quoted one of the “climbers” as saying: There’s no way Cairn can drill for oil while we’re hanging next to their drill-bit, and it’s going to be extremely difficult for them to remove our survival pod. To drill oil here would be dangerous insanity. We have to stop the Arctic oil rush. Dkt. 56-25 (Ex. 1020 at 0001). 3. Direct Action Against Shell’s Noble Discoverer Vessel In February 2012, six Greenpeace New Zealand activists illegally boarded and occupied the Shell drillship Noble Discoverer while it stopped at New Zealand on its way to the Arctic Ocean. Activists equipped with survival gear scaled the 53-meter drilling tower, secured themselves to the rig, and unfurled “stop Shell” banners. They were arrested by New Zealand authorities four days later. Greenpeace USA, in its blog, endorsed the activists’ conduct and described them as 8 SHELL OFFSHORE V . GREENPEACE “our brave activists.” Dkt. 11-14 at 2. Its website described the incident as “only the first chapter in what will undoubtedly be an epic battle.” 4. Direct Action Against Shell’s Nordica and Fennica Vessels In March 2012, Greenpeace activists boarded and occupied the Nordica and Fennica, two of Shell’s “icebreaker” support vessels, while in port in Finland. Again in May 2012, Greenpeace activists twice boarded and occupied the Nordica while it transited through Swedish and Danish waters. Activists chained themselves to the vessel, dropped weights and other objects in the water to obstruct the vessel’s propulsion, and created a human blockade using divers.