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Well this isn't great news and I'm surprised it's happened but Shell has had a victory against Greenpeace which prohibits activists to staying a kilometre away from Shell's vessels in the Arctic until 31 October (that's when they have to stop drilling because the drilling season ends). The following was posted by Greenpeace NZ

Greepeace USA has gotten notice that a federal judge in Alaska granted a preliminary injunction against us which will remain in place until October 31st 2012, the end of Shell Oil's 'drilling window' in Alaska. This is another step in a legal process Shell has taken against us following a temporary restraining order which expired on March 28th.

Greenpeace USA is now banned from entering a 1 km 'safety zone' around Shell's two main drilling vessels and a 500 meter safety zone is in place for support vessels and other equipment.

The injunction serves Shell's purpose of silencing people's voices who do not agree with drilling in the Arctic by constraining peaceful protests.

When an oil company with billions of dollars employs an army of lawyers to undermine the right to peaceful protest and free speech, then you know you're doing something right. Since Greenpeace New Zealand launched this campaign over 300,000 people have written to Shell telling them that Arctic drilling is one of the great mistakes of our age, and the company has resorted to legal bullying because they're scared of public opinion.

Greenpeace is just one part of a growing movement which will continue to oppose Arctic drilling peacefully and vigorously this year and in the future. This desperate  drilling program will do nothing to bring down gas prices in the US, but everything to endanger America's last true wilderness and play havoc with our climate. It's time we start protecting the best interests of the 99% instead of a handful of corporate executives pursuing the next billion dollars in profit.

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We invite all of you to join us in exposing the irony of more exploitation in the Arctic becoming possible because of climate change. Stand with us by making your voices heard to protect the Arctic!

Source: Greenpeace NZ


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