Activists Get On Oil Project Barge

Six environmental activists occupied a barge towing equipment to the Northstar oil project off the Alaska coast Monday, hoping to block the start of the first offshore oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean, Greenpeace said.

Activists from the Greenpeace ship MV Arctic Sunrise boarded the barge carrying a four-story facility for BP Amoco early Monday, about four hours sailing time from Barrow on Alaska’s northern coast.

The tug towing the barge toward Prudhoe Bay turned around and was headed toward Barrow, Greenpeace spokesman Erwin Jackson said from the organization’s Amsterdam headquarters.

Jackson said no one else was aboard the 420-foot barge. Sailors on the tug did not resist the activists, who intended to stay on the barge as long as possible, he said.

Speaking from the barge by satellite phone, activist Stephanie Tunmore said the group had followed the barge for an hour, then climbed aboard using its ladders. Tunmore also said they had hoisted a banner that read, “Stop BP’s Northstar.”