GreenWatch

B. McPherson The eight nation Arctic Council will reconvene on May 15 th to discuss security, sustainability, environmental protection and development. The nations which have coast lines on the Arctic Ocean formed the Council in 1998 in the face of the warming Arctic and threats and opportunities that an ice-free ocean would present. In addition to the eight nations with coastlines on the Arctic – Canada, USA, Russia, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark(Greenland) – there are six nonvoting members who represent indigenous people and their interests. Observer status has been granted to eight nations. 14 other nations have applied to sit as nonvoting observers at this conference. Some of the nations applying for status are puzzling at first glance, but the expected natural resources that lie under the ice have some already rumbling that they deserve a share of those riches – natural gas and oil. This year China, Japan, S.Korea, India, Italy, Singapore and the EU have all...

By B. McPherson The government of Brazil is fining Chevron about $28 million dollars for the oil spill in the Campos Basin. That’s a little under four days production. Chevron struck oil in their lease concession but the deep water drill site brought up oil at high pressure, enough to force oil up through the pipe and also to allow it to seek escape through weak rock formations. The spill wasn’t reported immediately. The accounts vary depending on who is relating them. The Chevron position is that they assumed the oil slick on the Atlantic was a result of operations by the state owned Petrobas corporation. The Brazilian government is saying that Petrobas was forced to report on Chevron and that Chevron underestimated the amount of oil that escaped to the surface. This current leak is far smaller than the BP catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico in 20ll which saw millions of barrels of oil foul water and beaches in the USA, but the Campos Basin is a massive formation which has several oi...