AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, July 1 (UPI) -- Greenpeace in a letter to the government of Greenland demands to see the arctic oil spill response plan from Cairn Energy, which is drilling in arctic waters.
A Dutch court ruled against Greenpeace after Cairn Energy sued the group. Greenpeace in early June said it forced Cairn to stop its drilling operations in the arctic waters off the coast of Greenland for four days when activists suspended themselves from a survival pod off the bottom of the company's oil rig.
Greenpeace said it wants to see Cairn's plans in the event of an oil spill in the region. Activists claim the rush to explore potential new oil and gas reserves in areas exposed by melting arctic sea ice could create safety and environmental problems.
Greenpeace said one exploratory drilling campaign in Greenland's waters discharges more harmful pollutants than all drilling in Norway and Denmark combined.
"We are concerned that secrecy and non-compliance with circumpolar agreements on such a vital issue will create a dangerous precedent," Greenpeace said in a letter to Greenland's Prime Minister Kuupik Kleist. "Drilling should not commence until the oil spill response plan is disclosed and the public is given an opportunity to provide comments."
Kumi Naidoo, international executive director of Greenpeace, was arrested in late June after scaling a Cairn platform. He was deported from Greenland after four days in jail and is barred from the country for one year.
