Shell Fails to Respond to Questions at Annual General Meeting about Environmental and Climate Risks Associated with Arctic Drilling and Tar Sands
FollowShell Fails to Respond to Questions at Annual General Meeting about Environmental and Climate Risks Associated with Arctic Drilling and Tar Sands
Photos and interviews with delegation available [email protected] +447772694327
Today Shell faced a barrage of questions from a female indigenous delegation from the Arctic who raised concerns about the real risks associated with drilling in the Arctic. The meeting showed a schizophrenic Shell moving between committing to climate action on one had whilst continuing to sink money into highly polluting tar sands and reckless offshore Arctic drilling.
“Today we stood before the Shell board and shareholders to hold Shell accountable for their reckless plans to drill in the Arctic. Shell failed to adequately address our concerns about the fact that there is a seventy-five percent chance of a spill if they were to go ahead. They rushed us through our statement, joking that they needed to get to lunch while we brought forward our concerns about food security for future generations of Inupiat and all Alaska Native cultures,” said Faith Gemmill-Fredson, director of Resisting Environmental Destruction On Indigenous Lands (REDOIL) “Shell will be morally, ethically and financially bankrupt if Arctic drilling goes ahead. The indigenous peoples of Alaska should not bear the brunt of this irresponsible and risky venture — especially when we already see the devastating impacts of the climate crisis from current extraction of fossil fuel activities, which is severely impeding our subsistence way of life.”
Mae Hank and Faith Gemmill- Fredson made the journey from Alaska to attend the meeting. On Saturday they participated in the direct action in the “Seattle Paddle” oil rig actions before arriving in the Hague for the meeting. They will continue their journey to Shell’s investors meeting in London to continue to raise her concerns and to meet with other communities impacted by Shell’s negligences.
“My concerns with Shell remain the same year after year, they cannot ensure any compensation to communities in the likely event of a catastrophe if they are granted the license to go ahead with their reckless pursuit of the Arctic,” said Mae Hank. “Shell’s past actions in 2012 shows how Shell takes lightly the high risk of drilling in our Chukchi sea. We have seen one accident after another, like the loss of barges during a high winter storm. We cannot allow offshore drilling in our most sacred hunting grounds. The ocean is our ancestral grounds where we have hunted and gathered for thousands of years. The ocean is the future of our community as well as the source of our food security, cultural and religious practices — all based on the bow head whale. With a record like this Shell expects us to entrust the company with the future of our way of life?”
Shell made announcements to begin operations in the tar sands in September, claiming that carbon capture storage technology would make tar sands extraction an ‘acceptable’ practice.
“The Shell board seemed completely incoherent and confused. On one hand they are celebrating their commitment to climate action and on the other continuing to insist on extracting tar sands in Alberta and being adamant on moving into the Arctic despite the community and scientific consensus that these actions will condemn the global community to catastrophic climate change” commented Suzanne Dhaliwal, director of the UK Tar Sands Network. “Listening to the board today I was convinced more than ever that this company is not to be trusted with our collective energy future and we cannot stand by and watch them make decisions that will commit us to climate suicide.”
*** Action planned outside London Shell meeting – Thursday May 21, 2015 at Central Hall Westminster, Storey’s Gate, Westminster, London SW1H 9NH, United Kingdom.
Climate change dominates marathon Shell annual general meeting
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