London, 13th April 2018:- The Clean Arctic Alliance applauded progress by International Maritime Organization member states today towards banning use of the world’s dirtiest fuel – heavy fuel oil – from Arctic shipping, and called for Member States to make every effort to adopt and rapidly implement a ban by 2021, as proposed by eight IMO Member States … Read more
On February 21, I joined dozens of impassioned Alaskans to protest the Trump administration’s reckless plan to sell nearly all our coastline to Big Oil. Standing outside the Dena’ina Center in Anchorage, I watched through the fog of my breath in the chilly winter evening as Alaska Native activists called the plan a violation of … Read more
For many Alaskans, the ocean is part of who they are. The state’s 40,000 miles of coastline is dotted with small Alaska Native communities that depend on the marine environment for their way of life. These subsistence hunters catch and harvest fish, polar bear, birds and their eggs, crab, walruses, seals, and whales. These animals are not … Read more
Despite the seriousness of the threat, the use of Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) by ships in the Arctic seems to have escaped the public consciousness and the media. It’s been overshadowed by more dramatic stories like melting glaciers and starving polar bears. But it should be one of the most talked about environmental concerns of … Read more
One of my most cherished gifts given to me is a beautiful sealskin vest made by my grandmother. She was from St. Lawrence Island in the northern Bering Sea between Russia and Alaska. There, life continues to be sustained by our traditions of subsistence, with blessed wildlife that has nourished our people for thousands of … Read more
London, July 7, 2017:- As the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC 71) concluded today, the Clean Arctic Alliance welcomed the support from Member States for a proposal to identify measures which will mitigate the risks posed by the use of heavy fuel oil (HFO) in Arctic waters, and called on the … Read more
Good news this afternoon in London: The International Maritime Organization’s (IMO’s) marine environment protection committee just approved our coalition’s proposal to deal with the issue of dangerous heavy fuel oil in the Arctic. This means there will now be international rulemaking to mitigate risks of heavy fuel oil and, hopefully, phase out this dangerous oil in the Arctic. … Read more
President Trump announced that he would attempt to reverse the permanent protections against expanded offshore drilling in America’s Arctic and Atlantic oceans established by President Obama.
Washington D.C., April 18th, 2017:- A report published today by the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), Alternatives to heavy fuel oil use in the Arctic: Economic and environmental tradeoffs finds that using heavy fuel oil in Arctic shipping creates such great risks compared to the cost of moving to safer fuels, that transitioning to … Read more
Brussels, 16 March 2017:- Responding to today’s European Parliament 483/100 plenary vote to pass its Resolution on the Arctic, including a call “on the Commission and the Member States to actively facilitate the ban on the use of heavy fuel oil (HFO) and carriage as ship fuel in vessels navigating the Arctic seas through MARPOL … Read more
The Arctic hosts one of the world’s most productive and most pristine marine environments. An oil spill of heavy fuel oil, which could devastate this fragile world and destroy food sources for arctic communities, is the top threat associated with increased Arctic shipping. Heavy fuel oil is extremely toxic and slow to degrade. Oil spill … Read more
A world-leading expedition cruise ship operator today joined international environmental organisations to spearhead the protection of Arctic communities and ecosystems from risks posed by the use of marine heavy fuel oil (HFO) to power ships, at the Arctic Frontiers conference in Tromsø, Norway.
As 2016 ends and we look ahead to the challenges of 2017, I want to pause for a minute and share with you some encouraging news for the future of the Arctic. Pacific Environment has been campaigning for a fossil fuel-free Arctic for nearly a decade, together with many environmental groups, community allies and supporters … Read more
“The anticipated increase in ship traffic in the Arctic is second in magnitude only to the initial arrival of European settlers on our shores.” When my friend Austin Ahmasuk, a leader from Nome, Alaska, said this, it really hit me just how dramatically the world is changing for Arctic indigenous peoples whose lives are inextricably … Read more
Right now, Pacific Environment is gearing up to fight two big threats to the Arctic: a catastrophic oil spill and President-elect Trump’s ruthless fossil fuel agenda. Transported as cargo or used as cheap engine fuel by ships traveling through the fragile Arctic, heavy fuel oil is putting the Arctic’s marine mammals, birds, fish, and the … Read more
President Obama took bold action by protecting the Arctic Ocean and Atlantic coast from oil and gas drilling. His administration removed these fragile coastal waters from the list of federal waters available to big oil companies to lease for drilling for the next five years. We have asked you to speak up to protect the … Read more
President Obama made history last summer by being the first sitting president to visit the Arctic, speaking passionately about climate change and focusing on Arctic challenges. Phasing out the use of heavy fuel oil by the increased number of ships now transiting the Arctic is an urgent challenge that can be readily addressed and reduce the top risk identified to Arctic communities and fragile marine environments.
We need your help. Tell President Obama and Secretary of the Interior Jewell to halt proposed plans to allow drilling in Alaskan waters. Shell recently announced that it is abandoning its Arctic Ocean drilling program. But that’s not enough. Big oil is waiting to snap up new offshore oil and gas leases. Tell the President … Read more
As polar ice recedes, increased Arctic vessel traffic increases the urgency to craft protections for fragile Arctic marine environments and communities.
Today, the House of Representatives took a historic vote to whether protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s Coastal Plain as Wilderness. Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) offered the House Arctic Refuge Wilderness bill as an amendment to the Sportsmen’s Heritage and Recreational Enhancement (SHARE) Act of 2015, H.R. 2406, a bill that contains a number of destructive provisions that threaten wildlife and public lands, erode bedrock environmental laws and undermine key conservation policies. The bipartisan vote on the amendment – the first time Congress has ever voted on a Wilderness bill for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge – was 176 yeas and 227 nays (31 not voting).