Shell Icebreaker Proceeds As Greenpeace Activists Removed From Portland Bridge

The St. Johns Bridge is at a key location on the Fennica’s route from Portland to the Arctic. The icebreaker is a vital part of Shell’s exploration and spill-response plan off Alaska’s northwest coast.

US Coast Guard has removed Greenpeace activists from St. Johns Bridge in Portland, Oregon, where they attempted to block a Shell Oil vessel from leaving for Alaskan waters since Wednesday.

Royal Dutch Shell PLC icebreaker Fennica heads upriver in Portland, Ore., Thursday, July 30, 2015.

Protesters dangling from ropes with large red and yellow banners, at times chanting “Shell No”, prevented the ship from passing under the span, forcing the vessel back to port. Shell can not start drilling without the icebreaker because it is carrying a crucial piece of equipment, Greenpeace said.

“It is not too late for him to revoke Shell’s lease to drill and to send this ship back to port permanently”.

A federal judge in Alaska has ordered the organization be fined $2,500 for every hour that protesters continue to block the ship, the AP reported.

U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason ruled Thursday in Anchorage that Greenpeace is in civil contempt. Gleason in May granted Shell’s request that activists protesting Shell’s Arctic drilling plans be ordered to stay away from Shell vessels and beyond buffer zones.

“The only reason they are here in Portland is because of their own incompetence”, Nichol says.

The Fennica arrived at Vigor Industrial’s dry dock in Portland last week after being damaged earlier this month in the Aleutian Islands by an underwater obstruction. It would have jumped to $5,000 an hour on Friday, $7,500 an hour on Saturday, and $10,000 an hour on Sunday.

The icebreaker’s departure on Thursday triggered a chaotic waterborne tussle between law enforcement boats and obstinate activist kayakers who took to the river again after originally being moved to the side by police using loudspeakers. In the time before things thawed next year, protesters hoped for political change in Washington, D.C. They say that will add to a global warming problem that has hit the Arctic hard by reducing sea ice, a habitat critical to polar bears and walrus. “I was in the water for four hours”.

It was not immediately known how much Greenpeace would have to pay in fines, nor if its members planned new protests. It was reopened shortly after the icebreaker reversed course. Protesters said they were prepared to stay on the bridge for days.