Conoco Phillips Rig On Its Way To Drill Falls Over, Catches On Fire - The Rig "Left The Road"
When ConocoPhillips won federal approval last year to explore for oil in the Alaskan Arctic, environmental groups warned the proposal was rushed through without adequate protections. Last week, an oil rig toppled onto the tundra as it was on its way to drill for that effort, igniting a fire and spilling diesel fuel onto the snow-covered land.
Now, five days after the incident, the weather is so severe that no crew is on site to respond to the spill or assess the scope of any damage, said Kimberley Maher, state on-scene coordinator for Alaska’s Department of Environmental Conservation. “We are working together to put the plans in place as soon as there is a weather window to continue cleanup efforts,” Maher said. The exploration program is pushing industrial activity deeper into the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, which has some of the largest wilderness areas in the United States, and into prime hunting and subsistence grounds used by Iñupiat residents of the nearby village of Nuiqsut.
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It was last Friday afternoon, when rig operators were moving the structure along a gravel road, that the rig “left the road and toppled onto the tundra,” according to a situation report published Monday by the Department of Environmental Conservation. The cause remained unknown and an investigation would begin “when safe to do so.” The incident report said the rig, owned by Doyon Drilling Inc., was carrying about 4,000 gallons of diesel shortly before it fell within 50 feet of oil infrastructure and less than 500 feet from a tributary to the Colville River, a key fishing ground. A spill was then reported, raising concerns about impacts on the waterway.
The weather was unusually warm and misty at the time the rig fell, with the temperature rising to 34 degrees, according to the National Weather Service. Rosemary Ahtuangaruak, a former mayor of Nuiqsut and longtime critic of the oil industry, said the warmth can weaken the tundra.
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https://insideclimatenews.org/news/28012026/as-an-oil-rig-topples-in-the-alaskan-arctic-and-ignites-a-fire-exploration-there-continues/