PORT ANGELES — The Coast Guard said it has no plans to set up a “voluntary First Amendment area” in Port Angeles Harbor for activists to protest Friday’s expected arrival of a huge semi-submersible offshore drilling rig from Asia.
The Coast Guard, in detailing security measures Wednesday, said it will set up such an area for protesters who plan to launch boats and kayaks in Seattle’s Elliott Bay when the oil rig is moved from Port Angeles to Puget Sound later this month or in early May.
The protesters oppose the resumption of exploratory oil drilling in Arctic waters off Alaska because they say exploration companies are ill-equipped in the event of a spill.
The Polar Pioneer, a 400-foot-tall rig owned by Transocean Ltd., is expected to arrive in Port Angeles Harbor from Malaysia sometime Friday — nobody Wednesday could give an exact time either in daylight or darkness.
The temporary visitor will be the tallest structure on the North Olympic Peninsula while it is in Port Angeles Harbor.
Once it is shed of the ship that is carrying it piggyback, the rig will remain floating in the harbor for at least two weeks for routine outfitting before it is towed to Seattle.
Royal Dutch Shell, which leases the huge rig, said it plans to dock it in Seattle, then haul it north for exploratory oil drilling this summer in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska’s northwest coast, if the company can obtain the necessary federal permits.
Six activists with the environmental group Greenpeace boarded the Blue Marlin, the ship transporting the oil rig, in the Pacific Ocean last week.
They returned to a nearby Greenpeace ship just hours before a federal judge in Alaska ordered them off the Blue Marlin at the request of Royal Dutch Shell.
Protesters organized in Seattle by www.shellno.org have said they plan to meet the Polar Pioneer with a small armada of boats and kayaks whenever it arrives in Seattle from Port Angeles.
“We knew there was going to be a lot of activity in Elliott Bay opposed to Port Angeles, [and] we discussed having [a protest zone] in Port Angeles,” said Lt. Dana Warr, public affairs officer for the Coast Guard’s 13th District, which includes Port Angeles and Seattle.
“[But] we opted not to identify a space.”
The “voluntary First Amendment area” will be a regulated navigation zone in Elliott Bay, Warr said, that was developed following discussions with several special interest groups.
The protest zone will be where the Coast Guard recommends — but does not require — those desiring to express their views on Arctic drilling can assemble on the water, Warr said.
Protesters will have to stay 500 yards away from the rig while it is in motion and 100 yards away when it is stationary, he said.
As of Wednesday, no known protests had been planned in or near Port Angeles, with Greenpeace representatives declining to comment about any plans.
“The formation of [a protest zone] in Port Angeles would come about if people came to us . . . and said, ‘Where is the safest place in that port that we can express our opinion — First Amendment rights — without jeopardizing our lives or impeding maritime traffic?’ ” Warr said.
The Polar Pioneer is being transported on the Blue Marlin, a semi-submersible heavy-lift ship.
The pair left Malaysia for Washington state in early March.
After anchoring in Port Angeles Harbor on Friday, the Blue Marlin crew will offload the Polar Pioneer and depart.
“After the MV Blue Marlin departure, the Polar Pioneer will remain here while equipment is installed that had to be removed for transport,” Port of Port Angeles officials said in a statement Tuesday.
“The work is being done in Port Angeles due to the added margin of safety afforded by the protected harbor and will take place over approximately a two-week time frame.”
The vessels are expected to anchor in the free-navigational waters midharbor outside the port agency’s jurisdiction.
The Port of Port Angeles’ involvement is limited to working with local service and supply vendors that customarily use the port’s public facilities.
“The port will provide moorage for local supply vessels in connection with the operation,” the statement said.
Personnel stationed nearby at the Port Angeles Coast Guard Air Station/Sector Field Office on Ediz Hook will provide regular boat patrols if necessary, Warr said.
Additionally, the Coast Guard will be in routine communication with the vessels during their stay in the harbor, he said.
The Polar Pioneer is one of two drill rigs Shell hopes to use for exploratory drilling in the Chukchi Sea.
When Shell last drilled in Arctic waters using two rigs in 2012, the company drilled pilot holes and performed other preliminary work in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Chris McDaniel can be reached at 360-681-2390, ext. 5052, or cmcdaniel@peninsuladailynews.com.
