Activist sits atop large 'tripod' near Seattle's ports to protest Shell Oil (PHOTOS)



SEATTLE -- A small group of activists have set up a large "tripod" with a person sitting atop at a Seattle fuel transfer station to protest the expected arrival of Shell's arctic drilling fleet.

The move is intended to protest Royal Dutch Shell, who is moving a giant floating oil rig into Seattle. Dutch Shell told the Times that the oil rig is making its way from Port Angeles to the Port of Seattle, and should arrive sometime this week. The 400-foot-long Polar Pioneer will dock in Seattle, before heading up to Alaska's coast to start exploratory drilling for oil.

Another oil rig is currently making its way to a docking in Everett.

According to the protest group, protester and Seattle resident Annie Lukins is on top of a large tripod at a transfer station on 16th Avenue Southwest on Harbor Island, Seattle's port area. Lukins said she does not want to see the giant oil rig move into the area, and certainly doesn't want to see the proliferation of drilling in the arctic.

"Shell already knows the impacts of drilling in the arctic," she said. "They are placing themselves in defiance of climate science, in defiance of the treaty subsistence rights of the Inupiat, and in defiance of our elected official here in Seattle."

Last week, Seattle Mayor Ed Murray said the Port of Seattle did not have the necessary land-use permits to allow the oil rig to dock in the area.

According to the unnamed protest group, thousands of protesters would be on hand as the oil rig comes into Terminal 5 sometime this week.