The welcome map sure wasn't out for the Polar Pioneer oil platform when the tugs dragged it into Elliot Bay yesterday. It docked at the Port of Seattle anyway, just down the hill from West Seattle. We listened to the news helicopters circling for about an hour over the kayak demonstrators. How could a flotilla of paddle boats believe they could stop a behemoth like that? Well, activists called yesterday's event "Shake Your Paddles at Shell," in defiance of the arrival. Things are just getting warmed up.
"We want to unwelcome it to our waters here in Seattle," said Carlo Voli, a volunteer with ShellNO, an activist organization that opposes Shell coming to Seattle. And let them know we are unhappy with them using our waters as a staging place to go up to the Arctic and attempt to drill for oil up there. They can come into our waters, but when they try to leave, it will be a completely different story. A lot of folks are going to try to prevent it from leaving, by putting our kayaks and bodies on the line."
Goodness. And the poor oil company says they never received such a response to their "Alaska program."
But they haven't been to Seattle now, have they?
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