Oil exploration under Arctic ice could cause 'uncontrollable' natural disaster

[xchrom]

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/oil-exploration-under-arctic-ice-could-cause-uncontrollable-natural-disaster-2349788.html

Any serious oil spill in the ice of the Arctic, the "new frontier" for oil exploration, is likely to be an uncontrollable environmental disaster despoiling vast areas of the world's most untouched ecosystem, one of the world's leading polar scientists has told The Independent.

Oil from an undersea leak will not only be very hard to deal with in Arctic conditions, it will interact with the surface sea ice and become absorbed in it, and will be transported by it for as much as 1,000 miles across the ocean, according to Peter Wadhams, Professor of ocean physics at the University of Cambridge.

The interaction, discovered in large-scale experiments 30 years ago, means that the Arctic oil rush, which was given a huge boost last week with a $3.2 billion (£1.9bn) investment from Exxon Mobil, is likely to be the riskiest form of oil exploration ever undertaken, said Professor Wadhams, who is a former director of Cambridge's Scott Polar Research Institute.

[Turbineguy]

1. That's why we should vote republican.

They like uncontrollable natural disasters.

[Bragi]

2. Quite so. As a Canadian...

As a Canadian, I am embarrassed and appalled at the anti-environmental conduct and record of our conservative government.

That is why I do not support in any way Canada's bid for control over the arctic. Our track record is such that we should not be trusted with control over this environmentally fragile area.

A resolution that involves some kind of international authority via the UN or a set of new treaties seems like a much more responsible way to manage this global area.

[GliderGuider]

3. As another Canadian, I agree.

The Arctic is part of the global commons. I should be under international/UN jurisdiction.

[stuntcat]

4. kick

too late for rec.