Alexandre Guertin-Pasquier of the University of Montreal presented his research in Toronto this weekend at the Canadian Paleontology Conference. Guertine-Pasquier states the fossilized forest on Bylot Island is similar to current forests in southern Alaska. He points to similar plant diversity between the two environments, including willow, pine and spruce trees. Pollen found in the site also suggests the ancient forest flourished in a climate with an average temperature of 32 degrees Fahrenheit, significantly warmer than Bylot Island’s current average temperature of 5 degrees Fahrenheit.

The scientists were able to estimate the forest was at its peak between 2.6 million and 3 million years ago, a range determined through examination of the forest’s ancient sediment, particularly the soil’s magnetic particles. The Earth’s magnetic field affects movement of magnetic sediment in rocks, making them turn to the magnetic poles like a compass, so scientists were able to date the site’s sediment using the well-known history of the poles’ movement.

While forecasts predict that the climate on the Canadian Arctic’s Bylot Island won’t support a forest until the year 2100, there is a separate obstacle: Seeds must be brought to the area before any trees can grow. Migration is much easier for animals than plants, which must rely on creatures, wind and water to move a seed from place to place. For trees, it all depends on whether seeds are dispersed and taken to their new environment.

“Although it would of course take time for a whole forest to regrow, the findings show that our grandchildren should be able to plant a tree and watch it grow,” said Guertin-Pasquier.

Bylot Island is not the only place where warming temperatures could breathe new life into ancient forests. Drilling in the seabed off Antarctica revealed a 52-million-year-old rainforest that may also see revival. Scientists concluded that “without drastic changes,” the planet could be headed back to the temperatures that made possible.

Photo: View from the study site in June 2010. Credit: Alexandre Guertin-Pasquier

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This week’s news involves a bit of both. Shell Oil announced on Monday that it will be postponing the completion of its Alaskan Arctic wells until 2013. The reason behind the setback of a $4.5 billion, six-year investment? A spill containment dome — equipment required by environmental regulations — was damaged during a testing accident. It’s almost as if the environmental regulations are actually working!

“The time required to repair the dome, along with steps we have taken to protect local whaling operations and to ensure the safety of operations from ice floe movement, have led us to revise our plans for the 2012 – 2013 exploration program,” the company said in a statement. “In order to lay a strong foundation for operations in 2013, we will forgo drilling into hydrocarbon zones this year.”

While this isn’t the end of Arctic drilling, it is a wake-up call to Shell and other “Drill, Baby Drill!” advocates that are extracting oil from thousands of feet below Earth’s surface. Temperatures below freezing, icy waters and high swells make the region an especially dangerous one for offshore drilling.

Environmentalists have long opposed using the Arctic as an oil reservoir. “We think it’s crazy,” said Niel Lawrence, senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council. “And the evidence is mounting that shows it’s crazy.” Greenpeace echoed those sentiments in an email: “Investors must now be asking whether investing such vast sums of money trying to exploit the fragile Arctic is really worth it.”

Other factions, unsurprisingly, are expressing different sentiments. “It’s a disappointment that this particular system is not ready yet,” said Marvin E. Odum, the president of Shell Oil.

This “disappointment” for Shell Oil may be a small bit of good news for the Pacific walrus, one of Alaska’s many victims of climate change and its receding ice.

Main photo credit: Shutterstock

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Leave it to Big Energy to take the lemons and turn them into lemonade. A climate scientist’s threatening pit is an energy insider’s treasure trove. Based on an April finding from the U.S. Department of Energy, these reserves can provide a steady flow of methane molecules — the primary component of natural gas.  The finding was based on a two-month proof of concept test conducted in the North Slope of Alaska.

While the scientific community responded to the found Arctic reserves with horror, the Energy Department sounds almost giddy. “The energy content of methane in hydrate form is immense, possibly exceeding the combined energy content of all other known fossil fuels,” the department states on its website. The DOE is planning to fund research projects to pursue long-term production testing in the Arctic.

In addition to the Arctic, experts are already eyeing the coast of Charleston, S.C. – said to have more than 1,300 trillion cubic feet of methane gas – and the testing grounds, Alaska’s North Slope – home to about 85 trillion feet of gas resources.

I am all for taking something toxic and turning it into something productive, but we have plenty of methane resources above ground – it’s called animal waste and there is plenty of it. We also already have the technology to convert it into electricity. So before we start drilling into the sea for toxic gases, let’s start with the ones we have easy access to.

Main photo credit: Jeffrey T. Kreulen/Shutterstock

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Shell’s plans were delayed by several factors. The first and probably most significant, is the need to build an emergency spill containment barge, which is now required by federal law. The barge will hold a very important containment dome to be lowered on a wellhead if a spill were to occur. Oil would then be carried through an attached hose from the dome to the barge for processing.

Shell is also experiencing problems obtaining a necessary air pollution permit, called for upon the discovery that Shell’s drill ship’s generators were testing above acceptable levels for ammonia and nitrous oxide. Smith said his company would reach an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency, but environmental and Alaskan Native groups are posing a challenge. They claim the vessels will pollute the air and contribute to Arctic warming.

The company is also dealing with Mother Nature, who is keeping the sea ice attached to Alaska’s coastline with a firm grip. But the company says the ice is moving away, leaving only the EPA to get in the way of Shell’s plans.

Even drilling the two wells still planned for 2012 is expected to be difficult. Deadlines of September 24 and October 31 are set for drilling in parts of the Chukchi Sea and Beaufort Sea, respectively. The company will also have to halt operations in the Beaufort Sea while Alaskan natives hunt the migrating bowhead whale. Shell Alaska Vice President Pete Slaiby admitted “it’s going to be a challenge.”

Photo credit: Shutterstock

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Shell is only able to drill in the Arctic because global warming has thinned the ice. Many activists claim that should be a wake-up call to shift away from fossil fuels, not used as an opportunity for oil companies. From Lawless’s blog entry about the protest on Greenpeace.org:

“Instead of seeing the melting of Arctic sea ice as a dire warning to humanity, the oil barons are cynically using it as an invitation to dig up more of the stuff that caused the problem in the first place. This aging rust bucket, the Noble Discoverer (more like the Ignoble Destroyer), is one of the oldest drillships in the world and it will be spearheading Shell’s crazy foray into the dangerous and pristine Arctic.”

The protest was also meant to raise awareness of what would happen if an oil spill were to occur in the icy Arctic waters. A spill in those conditions may require extensive cleanup operations that Shell is not prepared for. And if a spill were to occur during the end of drilling season one year, water would likely freeze over and allow crude oil to continue gushing under the ice for months before cleanup crews could get through the surface.

Shell’s expedition was graded by the U.S. Interior Department and has an approved oil spill response plan. However, as the first company set to drill in the Arctic it is hard to know exactly what problems may occur and how their response plan will fare.

Lawless, best known for her role as Xena: Warrior Princess, will be sentenced in September. She faces a maximum three years of jail time.

Main photo credit: Greenpeace

Secondary photo credit: Gage Skidmore

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