NASA handout image shows how satellite data reveals how the new record low Arctic sea ice extent, compares to the average minimum extent over the past 30 years (in yellow). Sea ice extent maps are derived from data captured by the Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer aboard NASA's Nimbus-7 satellite and the Special Sensor Microwave Imager on multiple satellites from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program. Image by: NASA / Handout
British Lawmakers are calling for a moratorium on offshore drilling in the arctic, as US scientists record the ice shrinking to its lowest level on record.
The Environmental Audit Committee of Britain's House of Commons urged action to halt oil and gas drilling in the Arctic until new safeguards -including vastly increased financial guarantees and universal standards on disaster response - are put in place.
Legislators on the panel also called for an internationally recognised nature sanctuary to be created to protect at least part of the Arctic from energy exploration.
Caroline Lucas, a member of the committee and the only Green Party lawmaker at Britain's Parliament, said the panel's findings came as "the race to carve up the Arctic is accelerating faster than our regulatory or technical capacity to manage it."
"The Arctic oil rush is bringing unprecedented risks to the area, and it's now clear that the consequences of any potential oil spill would be catastrophic," she said.
Recommendations by the panel are not binding on Britain's government, and in response the country's foreign ministry said only that it would consider the proposals.
Experts warned the panel that any blowout in the Arctic at the end of the summer drilling season could be disastrous, as the returning winter ice would likely severely hamper the response.
"We heard compelling evidence that if a blow-out occurred just before the dark Arctic winter returned it may not be possible to cap it until the following summer - potentially leaving oil spewing out under the ice for six months or more with devastating consequences for wildlife," said lawmaker Joan Walley, chairwoman of the committee.
In a report, legislators said that the fact Arctic drilling locations are remote means resources to manage accidents are likely to be difficult to access or unavailable. Because shorelines are sparsely populated, it would also be more difficult to detect evidence of a spill.
"The infrastructure to mount a big clean-up operation is simply not in place and conventional oil spill response techniques have not been proven to work in such severe conditions," Walley said.
Legislators called on Britain to lobby the Arctic Council - an intergovernmental forum of the eight Arctic nations, including the United States and Canada - to craft a universal standard on disaster response.
The panel also suggested a "much higher, preferably unlimited, financial liability regime for oil and gas operations."
Britain's energy and climate change ministry said that, given the U.K.'s lack of "expertise or experience of Arctic issues," nations in the region should take the lead.
Charles Emmerson, an energy expert at the London-based Chatham House think tank, said it was "extremely unlikely" that nations competing over Arctic resources would agree to a single regulatory framework.
Richard Steiner, an Alaska-based marine conservation consultant who gave evidence to the committee via video link, urged the eight Arctic coastal nations and the U.N. to adopt the report's recommendations.
"It represents the first time a governmental body has really and honestly suggested what needs to happen to manage the Arctic responsibly," he said. "The U.K. Parliamentary body has proposed a realistic road-map for Arctic stewardship."
Environmental groups strongly oppose Arctic offshore drilling, claiming oil companies have not demonstrated the ability to clean up spilled crude in ice. Operating in one of the world's most hostile marine environments is a risk to its polar bears, walrus and endangered whales, the groups claim.
Shell has limited Arctic drilling off Alaska to preparation work this year after a safety system was damaged during testing.
However, Marvin Odum, head of Shell Oil Co., Royal Dutch Shell's U.S. subsidiary, insists it is optimistic about tapping into an estimated 26 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 130 trillion cubic feet (3.68 trillion cubic meters) of natural gas in U.S. Arctic waters.
In evidence to the British committee, Robert Blaauw, a senior Shell adviser on the Arctic, said energy demand over the coming decades made it necessary for companies to look to "unconventional resources" such as those in the Arctic.
The company said that it welcomed dialogue on Arctic energy exploration.
Ice at lowest level on record
Arctic sea ice has shrunk to its smallest surface area since record-keeping began, taking the world into “uncharted territory” as climate change intensifies, US scientists warned.
Satellite images show the ice cap had melted to 1.32 million square miles (3.4 million square kilometers) as of September 16, the predicted lowest point for the year.
That’s the smallest Arctic ice cover since record-keeping began in 1979, the National Snow and Ice Data Center said.
“We are now in uncharted territory,” the center’s director, Mark Serreze, said, in a statement.
“While we’ve long known that as the planet warms up, changes would be seen first and be most pronounced in the Arctic, few of us were prepared for how rapidly the changes would actually occur,” he added.
Arctic sea ice expands and contracts seasonally, with the lowest extent usually occurring in September.
This year’s minimum followed a season already full of records for shrinking ice, with lowest ever extents recorded on August 26 and again on September 4.
And in the last two weeks, the ice cover melted by more than 200,000 square miles (518,000 square kilometers), quite a large margin for the end of the summer, the NSIDC said.
“The strong late season decline is indicative of how thin the ice cover is,” said NSIDC scientist Walt Meier.
“Ice has to be quite thin to continue melting away as the sun goes down and fall approaches.”
Scientists use Arctic sea ice extent as an indicator of what’s happening with the overall climate. Despite year-to-year fluctuations from natural weather variations, the ice cap has shown a clear trend towards shrinking over the last 30 years, the NSIDC center said.
“This year’s minimum will be nearly 50% lower than the 1979 to 2000 average,” the statement noted.
The Colorado-based center said the Arctic is shifting in composition. Whereas previously most of the ice stayed frozen through several summers, now much of it melts and refreezes each season.
“Twenty years from now in August you might be able to take a ship right across the Arctic Ocean,” once blocked year-round by ice, said NSIDC scientist Julienne Stroeve.
Climate models predict “ice free conditions” before 2050, she added, but said the decline appears to be happening faster than predicted.
The NSIDC warned that increased heat and moisture from the melting Arctic ice cover could have global climate implications.
“This will gradually affect climate in the areas where we live,” he said. “We have a less polar pole — and so there will be more variations and extremes.” Environmental activist group Greenpeace lamented the announcement.
“In just over 30 years we have altered the way our planet looks from space, and soon the North Pole may be completely ice free in summer,” Greenpeace chief Kumi Naidoo, said in a statement.
“I hope that future generations will mark this day as a turning point, when a new spirit of global cooperation emerged to tackle the huge challenges we face,” he added.
- Times Live
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