ENVIRONMENT

Management will not lose sight of the environmental challenges that will accompany the potential rewards that Arctic oil and gas production will bring. A central concern is to safeguard the rich, unpolluted and highly vulnerable marine environment.

It has been proven that Oil and gas exploration and development can be conducted safely in environmentally sensitive areas. For example in 40 years of exploration drilling on the Norwegian continental shelf there has been no major acute oil discharges.

It should be remembered that oil and gas are naturally occurring deposits. There is a tremendous amount of hydrocarbon that naturally vents to the atmosphere on land and to the seafloor, worldwide and there are microbes that live off the hydrocarbons vented. The total tonnage might well be very significant.

 The Responsible Consortium will work with all of the Arctic Council member Nations and appropriate Government and UN Agencies to develop a strategic environmentally sound development plan which protects and enhances safety in the Arctic.

The ice of the Arctic is melting. Open sea has already been observed around the North Pole in the summertime. The melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet broke all records in 2002, and current estimates indicate that the ice sheet may disappear entirely.

What is happening in the Arctic is a sign of things to come in other parts of the world. When it comes to climate change, the Arctic is thought to be a contemporary version of the canary in the mine shaft.

 "We are not going to have apple trees growing in Vorkuta," said the mayor of that coal-mining city, Igor L. Shpektor, who is also the president of Russia's union of Arctic cities and towns.

 But the current thaw is already real enough for the four million people within the Arctic Circle, including about 150,000 Inuit. "As long as it's ice," said Sheila Watt-Cloutier, leader of a transnational Inuit group, "nobody cares except us, because we hunt and fish and travel on that ice. However, the minute it starts to thaw and becomes water, then the whole world is interested."

The UN thinks that cows are more to blame than cars for global warming.

The Arctic Zone is the habitat of many animals including polar bear, muskox, barren-ground caribou, arctic fox, arctic wolf, ermine, walrus and arctic hare. Among the distinctive birds are the snowy owl, gyrfalcon and willow ptarmigan.

There are various agencies and institutes involved in Arctic and climate research that the Responsible Consortium will collaborate with. For example, the seven Arctic Council countries are undergoing the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) process within which the United States has played a vital role.  

 The Consortium will invite the very best researchers and expertise worldwide to come together to address critical environmental issues and to narrow the gap between knowledge and correct actions. It should be noted that gas, which is the most likely resource in abundance in the Arctic is a much cleaner fuel than gasoline and contributes far less to the greenhouse effect.

Opening up the Arctic Ocean for petroleum production will be undertaken after a careful assessment of environmental risks and constraints. The Consortium will abide by the world’s most stringent environmental regimes. The Consortium will set the highest standards for activities in this vulnerable region.