Greenpeace Activists have been hanging from ropes since Wednesday from a bridge in Portland, Oregon to prevent MSV Fennica, a Shell icebreaker, from departing after staying in town for repairs. On Thursday, a court official said that A US judge has slapped a US$2,500 fine for every hour activists of Greenpeace continued to block a Shell Oil ship from heading for Alaska on a drilling expedition.
Federal Judge Sharon Gleason in Anchorage, Alaska ruled in Shell's favor, imposing the hourly fine until the protestors backed away and the fine will increase the longer the protest continues.
Starting at 10am Friday, Greenpeace will be fined US$5,000 an hour, increasing to US$7,500 an hour on Saturday and US$10,000 an hour from Sunday.
Greenpeace's press office has not made any comment regarding this but on the green group's Twitter page, it asked its supporters to sign an online petition to the White House calling on the current administration to retract Shell's Arctic drilling lease.
Last Wednesday, Greenpeace representatives said the activists have enough supplies for several days and that they were prepared to block Shell's way for as long as possible.
Several drone footage show some activists dangle in what seems to be like a hammock above the water while some number of colleagues remain afloat kayaks under St. John's Bridge as they try to keep the Shell ship from leaving. Fennica came to Portland for repairs and was was due to leave last Wednesday to join the rest of a fleet of Shell ships in the Aleutian islands, which spread west from Alaska. According to Greenpeace, Shell cannot start drilling without the icebreaker as it caries a crucial piece of equipment.
The protest began after authorization was given to Shell by President Obama in May to drill for oil in the Arctic.
