First photos of Shell's Arctic rig add perspective to drilling debate
Oct. 12, 2012
A photojournalist charters a flight to see just how close Shell's offshore rig is to the protected Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Turns out a photo is worth a lot more than a bunch of GPS coordinates.
By Douglas Fischer
The Daily Climate
The general public has not seen images of Shell Oil Co.'s Arctic drilling rig, the Kulluk, on site off the coast of Alaska, and a sense of the rig's proximity to protected lands has been hard to grasp. Until now.
Oregon-based photographer Gary Braasch flew to Alaska, chartered a plane in the town of Deadhorse, far above the Arctic Circle, and flew out to the rigs. His photographs provide, for the first time, a sense of perspective of the Kulluk rig in its environment, 12 miles offshore of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
"The location has been published for years in Shell's permits," he said in a phone interview. "We just went out there and, sure enough, there it was. But having the landscape just behind it was so amazing, and I don't think the public has realized how close it is."
The photos show the circular rig alone in the water. In the not-to-distant background of several images is the refuge's flat coastal plain, an area thought to be oil-rich but that has remained, so far, off limits to drillers. The Canning River Delta, part of the refuge that has been protected from drilling in many Congressional battles, is visible just beyond the rig.
A second rig, the Noble Discoverer, is in the Chukchi Sea, 70 miles off Alaska's northwest coast north of the Bering Straight, too far to be seen from land.
Shell has spent six years and $4.5 billion pioneering America's offshore Arctic oil production. The rigs arrived this summer, beset by construction delays, permit problems and stubborn sea ice.
With the short 
drilling season quickly closing, Shell announced last month it would not drill for oil off Alaska this year. But the company did not pull its rigs, which will remain over their federal lease sites until Oct. 31 doing preliminary work.
Shell doesn't have the final permit to drill for oil in part because it has yet to convince federal authorities it can clean up a spill in the frigid Arctic waters. Almost a dozen environmental and Native Alaskan groups are suing the government for more stringent permit requirements, citing the rigs' air pollution impacts and risks associated with a spill.
Braasch has been visualizing climate change for years on his website, World View of Global Warming. The story, as told through Braasch's lens, is on the photo site, along with other images of the Arctic coast and other parts of the story of oil drilling, environmental dangers, climate change, and Alaska.
The site – and much of Braasch's environmental journalism – is supported by the marketing of his photography as well as individuals and foundations interested in climate change and conservation.
Photographs © Gary Braasch and used with permission
DailyClimate.org is an independent news service covering climate change. Contact editor Douglas Fischer at dfischer [at] dailyclimate.org
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