Okay--I feel a little better now. Let's keep Shell out of Seattle, stop this drilling / fracking / coal exporting bullshit altogether--and reject the idiotic coal terminal at Cherry Point that nobody of sound mind wants, and I'll sleep like a baby.

Jesus is now very sad.

Jesus didn't put that stuff in the arctic for nothing!

While I understand the environmentalists concerns, the truth is, preventing the assembly work from happening in Seattle will simply drive it to another facility somewhere else; it won't actually stop it from happening, it'll just mean some other city will receive the benefit of the jobs that come with the contract.

@4

Not if other cities ALSO soundly reject the presence of the Shell fleet. Solidarity in sanity.

@5 In tough economic times ( I was around in '72) that was when the Alaska pipeline from Prudhoe Bay started to materialize when the U.S.A. didn't have enough oil to sustain itself. We now have an abundant supply and we can benefit from this as a country by supporting exploration and drilling (safe drilling) in our own boundary waters. This is a political thing which we as American citizens have virtually no say so. Your local Grandma in Fremont may be environmentally aware but the Shell oil rigs are here for the winter and they will leave in the spring and go North and do what they do best. The Port of Seattle and the Seattle City Council are outmanned financially by big oil and there isn't anything that can be done about it. Quit protesting and quit using oil products, that's the only solution.

@6: Great! All oil-hating enviromanics should never use the following petroleum-based products again. I'd start be eliminating tires and asphalt from your lives, so all you can really do is stay home 24/7.

- Plastics
- Ink
- Paint
- Shoe Polish
- Nylons
- Roof shingles
- Novelty Candy
- Cosmetics
- Candles
- Vaseline
- Bug Killer
- Ammonia
- Tires
- Asphalt
- Crayons
- Paper cups
- Wax paper

@7 I would like to attend one of these meetings and ask each environmentalist how they arrived at the meeting. Did they drive their car? Take the bus? Ride a bike? or simply walk. Chances are that if they have the spare time to go to these meetings they are retired or self employed or just unemployed looking for something to do. The rigs will go North soon and the world will return to normal.

@4 I can't find it now, but I read an article somewhere that said the Port of Seattle was really they're only option (considering their goals). Also, that's a dumb reason to allow them to do it. Taking a stand against this crap is what Seattle is all about. You're response is quite apathetic.

If Seattle won't moor the fleet, won't another port take them? Is there a particular reason to stay here, or could the fleet stay at any port that had the space for the allotted time?

@10 The port of Aberdeen would love to have them! It would boost their slow economy, provide many jobs and the people there aren't a bunch of hypocritical assholes like the Seattle people. We all use oil products, we rely on them.

Due to the extreme location and hazards of managing oil the arctic should be the last place we look for oil. The oil there should be part of the 80% to be left in the ground to avoid even more catastrophic climate change. Your right, our oil should be going for those products you list, not being burned and contributing to global climate change. Now, I admit I still drive some, but I have drastically changed my ways. I no longer fly, I ride the train or bus. I budget my individual carbon output to levels suggested at this time. There is no way we can go carbon free immediately but we can get alot closer while we get this figured out. We certainly do not need to be in the arctic at this time with the technology we have available. Nothing will change as long as we let fossil fuel corporations dictate our energy policy.