Seattle residents stage protest at Shell refinery

2013-0213-shell-protestSeattle area residents rallied over the weekend at the gates of the Puget Sound Shell refinery in solidarity with Idle No More and the Tar Sands Blockade.

“We are here today because fossil fuels like tar sands poison the water and land permanently. And Shell knows it. They know that projects like the Alberta Tar Sands operation make the land unlivable. They know they are poisoning communities near their extraction sites, pipelines, and refineries. I am young. Someday I want to have kids. I am not OK with companies like Shell poisoning us,” said Annie Lukins, a Seattle resident, in a press release.

Shell Oil is one of the leading non-Canadian investors in the Alberta tar sands operation, a relatively new form of fossil fuel extraction. The diluted tar sands are transported from Alberta via pipeline to Burnaby, BC, and then via pipeline and oil tankers to the Shell Puget Sound refinery near Anacortes.

Some Puget Sound residents are concerned that the effects of even a small accident would have deeply adverse and long lasting effects on the area, where industries such as fishing, agriculture, and tourism play major roles in the regional economy.

Since last summer, Shell has experienced a series of equipment failures and safety and environmental lapses, including the grounding of the Kulluk, their main drill ship, off the coast of Alaska just a few weeks ago. The Obama administration is currently deciding whether to allow Shell to continue with its plans for drilling in the Arctic.

The Beaufort and Chukchi seas of the Arctic are known as the “nursery of the planet” for whales, seabirds, polar bears, and many other species.  Drilling operations in these areas would deeply endanger these species.