The People’s Platform, otherwise known as the Solar Pioneer barge, obviously doesn’t like giant Pacific octopuses or it wouldn’t be dropping 1- to 2-ton concrete-block anchors on the marine wildlife habitat in Puget Sound that the creatures call home. The barge was the base for Greenpeace protestors that were trying to stop Shell Oil from moving the semisubmersible Polar Pioneer to the Chukchi Sea offshore Alaska later this summer.

The marine habitat—Alki Cove 2—is a popular diving spot in the Seattle area. The habitat was damaged by the concrete anchors and mooring lines that were not deployed properly to withstand tidal movement.

According to an Associated Press article May 25, the Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) investigated the damage and ordered the anchors and mooring lines to be removed from Seacrest Park. A DNR spokesman said the damage to the habitat was minimal and Greenpeace would have to pay for the cleanup.

Another environmental group, Global Underwater Explorers (GUE), was upset that Greenpeace would cause environmental damage and not clean up its mess. GUE was willing to coordinate clearing up the mooring lines and anchors but didn’t have the finances for the task, and Greenpeace didn’t offer to fix its mess either.

It just so happened that one company was more than willing to help with the funding—Shell Oil. GUE sent an email to Shell CEO Ben van Beurden. Shortly thereafter, GUE was very surprised to get a call from Shell in Alaska saying, “We’d love to help.” Koos du Preez, a Seattle-based GUE instructor, welcomed the offer.

Shell paid for the cleanup and enlisted the help of Foss Maritime, barge-owner John Sellers, and Global Diving and Salvage. Two teams of GUE scuba divers helped. Score one for the oil industry.

Shell was still condemned as the villain. In several news reports, Du Preez said, “If Shell wasn’t in the area, the activists wouldn’t be in the area, and none of this would have happened. I and our group consider this whole incident as collateral damage.”

In other words, Greenpeace gets a free pass. Greenpeace doesn’t seem to mind causing damage to the environment to protest environmental damage. As a matter of fact, the organization is making a habit of it. Just ask the Peruvian government.

At the end of 2014, 20 Greenpeace activists unfurled a banner near a hummingbird figure that was carved into the Plains of Nazca in southern Peru about 1,500 years ago. This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and visits are closely supervised; even presidents and ministers have to get special permission.

But Greenpeace’s message of “Time for change! The future is renewable” was more important. That message could be worth up to six years in prison for the perpetrators. Greenpeace actually apologized for this publicity stunt, but Peruvian authorities were not impressed.

The end justifies the means for Greenpeace even to the detriment of safety and the environment.

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