Greenpeace Being Fined $2,500 an Hour for This

13 protesters are dangling from an Oregon bridge to stop a ship
By Kate Seamons,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 30, 2015 3:26 PM CDT
Greenpeace Being Fined $2,500 an Hour for This
Activists hang off the St. Johns Bridge to protest Shell Oil's drilling in the Arctic, in Portland, Ore., Wednesday, July 29, 2015.   (THE MERCURY, WILLAMETTE WEEK, PAMPLIN MEDIA GROUP OUT)

Greenpeace is trying to prevent a Royal Dutch Shell icebreaker from leaving Oregon to go drill for oil in the Arctic in a most unusual—and, it now seems, expensive—way. The protesters have since yesterday been dangling from St. Johns Bridge over the Willamette River using ropes and pulleys. They succeeded this morning in preventing the Fennica, which made a stop last week in Portland for a repair to its hull, from departing for the Arctic. The AP reports the ship "turned around and inched its way back" to the dock. The protesters say they're armed with food and water (and, according to the Oregonian, adult diapers) and are in it for the long haul, with a stated intention to keep the ship at bay until winter sets in and the journey can't be made.

It could be an expensive undertaking: A judge today ordered Greenpeace USA to pay a $2,500 fine for each hour the protesters remain. A support crew is in place on the bridge, and the Oregonian notes there's also a flotilla of self-dubbed "kayaktivists" on the water. The kayaktivists' organizer says, "There is no Plan B, just as there is no Planet B; we have no intention of moving until President Obama rescinds the permit for Shell to drill in the Arctic." (More Arctic stories.)

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