Royal Dutch Shell Seeks Injunction Against Anti-Drilling Greenpeace Activists

Attorneys for Royal Dutch Shell applied for an injunction on Tuesday, April 7, to remove six activists who occupied a vessel transporting an oil drilling rig to Alaska. The Greenpeace activists scaled a Royal Dutch Shell drilling rig on Monday, April 6, to protest against the company’s plan to drill in Alaska’s Arctic Ocean.

The activists traveled on the Greenpeace ship Esperanza and intercepted the rig, which was being transported across the Pacific by a heavy-lift vessel, about 750 miles northwest of Hawaii. They then climbed on board and set up camp on the rig’s main deck, holding a banner that read “The People VS Shell”, as seen towards the end of this video.

The Polar Pioneer drilling platforms, is one of two vessels that Shell hopes to use this year for exploratory drilling in the Arctic Ocean off the coast of Alaska. Credit: Greenpeace