Indian Time - A Voice from the Eastern Door

September 29, 2015 - Royal Dutch Shell has announced its plans to abandon its attempts to drill for oil off Alaska’s northwest coast, citing disappointing results from exploratory wells. Native American leaders who have been campaigning against the Shell project and other extreme energy developments share their thoughts on the announcement made yesterday: Faith Gemmill, Executive Director of Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands (REDOIL), based in Alaska, remarks: “This is an amazing result of the fight to defend the Arctic. Insane energy policy plans, such as Shell’s risky Arctic Drilling endeavors which promote more extraction of fossil fuels at a time of climate crisis gave birth to a peoples movement to stand up for the Earth and her finite resources. Today I honor all that took on this fight and stood with us. The fight to protect the Arctic is far from over, but this is definitely a victory for the people, especially the Inupiat who have been on the forefront of protecting the Arctic ecosystem, which sustains their ancestral whaling way of life. We hope that Royal Dutch Shell and other companies realize Arctic Drilling should be totally scrapped since the risks outweigh the benefits.” Kandi Mossett, Native Energy & Climate Campaign Organizer with the Indigenous Environmental Network shares: “Today we celebrate a victory as Shell abandons its drilling operations in the Chukchi Sea; due in part to the courageous people on the ground pushing back against the corporation in the fight to protect all those in the seas who can’t speak for themselves.