Greenpeace takes water quality protest to Arctic

Environmental protest group Greenpeace has scaled an oil rig in the Arctic as part of its water quality campaign.

Earlier this week, the environmental supporters climbed aboard the rig off Greenland to stop the drilling, which will prevent operators Cairn Energy from being able to explore the drilling opportunities in the area before the winter ice sets in.

Greenpeace campaigner Sim McKenna who has taken part in the protest said: "We've got to keep the energy companies out of the Arctic and kick our addiction to oil."

He also spoke about the oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, adding that this incident "showed us it's time to go beyond oil".

Mr McKenna added that if the Greenland region was explored further, it could lead to an "Arctic oil rush", which would reduce the water quality in the area and pose a threat to its fragile environment.

Last week, BP confirmed that it is using new technology that will monitor the water quality in the Gulf of Mexico to assess the damage to the sea caused by the explosion.

Posted by Lauren Steadman