Lucy Lawless aims to stop 'mad' oil drilling

  • 22/07/2017
Lucy Lawless and Jonne Sustento.
Lucy Lawless and Jonne Sustento. Photo credit: Lucy Lawless/Instagram

Lucy Lawless is back on the water, protesting against oil drilling in the chilly waters north of Norway and Russia.

Greenpeace on Saturday said the Xena star joined other activists on inflatable boats 275km off the Norwegian coast.

They're protesting Statiol and the Norwegian government's hunt for new drilling sites in the Barents Sea.

"I can't stand by, doing nothing, when we know beyond a doubt that we can't burn a single barrel of oil from a new well if we are to avoid a climate catastrophe," says the Battlestar Galactica actress.

"I don't ever want to look my kids in the eye and explain why I didn't do all I could to protect them from climate change. It is beyond my understanding that the Norwegian government is giving Statoil a ticket to drill like mad at the expense of future generations."

Greenpeace has taken legal action against Statoil's exploration.

"It is hard for me to grasp and accept that a government like Norway's is opening up new Arctic oil drilling, knowing full well it will put families and homes in other parts of the world at risk," says Joanna Sustento, a Philippines national Greenpeace describes as a "climate-change survivor".

"I'm here in the Arctic to see this irresponsibility with my own eyes, share my story about the human consequences of climate change and call on the Norwegian government to put a stop to this dangerous search for new oil."

Ms Sustento lost most of her family in 2013's Typhoon Haiyan, which destroyed much of the city of Tacloban.

"It is scary to think that super-typhoons could become the new normal if governments like Norway's allow more oil drilling."

The inflatable boats were carried out to sea on board the Greenpeace vessel, Arctic Sunrise.

Brazilian firm Petrobras, Statoil and Mobil have all abandoned prospects in New Zealand in the past couple of years. Statoil abandoned its hunt for oil in Northland in October last year.

The Arctic trip follows on from Greenpeace's at-sea protests against Statoil in New Zealand, including Greenpeace head and former MP Russel Norman, who was among three others who put themselves in the water in front of the Amazon Warrior off the Wairarapa coast in April.

The trio were arrested and have been accused of breaching the Crown Minerals Act, which makes it unlawful to interfere with offshore petroleum or mineral operations.

Newshub.