評論
打印
Facing a freeze
面臨凍結
Governments are reviewing plans to open Arctic waters to oilmen
政府正審查在北極開采石油的計劃
WHEN BP's Macondo well began spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico,
當英國石油公司的麥肯多油井開始向墨西哥灣噴出石油的時候，
the firm was in the midst of an effort to persuade Canada's energy regulator that safety standards
英國石油公司正致力于勸說加拿大的能源監管機構，
for offshore drilling in the Canadian Arctic were expensive, impractical and should be relaxed.
稱在加拿大的北極地區進行海底鉆探的安全標準非常昂貴，不切實際，而且應該放棄。
Hearings on the subject were promptly suspended and the regulator declared that no new drilling permits would be issued pending a review of existing rules.
關于海底鉆探的聽證會立即停止，監管機構稱在審查現存規則的時候，不許可任何新的鉆探。
We have a duty to pause, to take stock of the incident, says Gaétan Caron, head of the National Energy Board.
國家能源委員會主席扎艾當凱倫說，我們有義務停止，需要評估一下這次事件。
For a time it looked as though the Arctic would be the next frontier for Western oil firms, which have only limited access to the most promising prospects in sunnier climes.
一段時間以來，北極似乎會成為西方石油公司的下一個目標，這些石油公司在晴朗的氣候要進入最富前景的區域是有限得。
The retreat of the polar ice cap is making the region easier to work in, and there is thought to be lots of oil and gas to tap.
北極冰蓋的消融使得該區域更容易進入，人們認為那兒蘊藏著豐富的石油和天然氣。
But Canada is not the only country now thinking twice:
但是加拿大不是唯一三思而行的國家：
America, Norway and even Russia are all contemplating tighter rules for drilling.
美國，挪威，甚至俄國都在考慮對鉆探實施更嚴格的規則。
Canada's stay on drilling, like a similar one imposed in America, is temporary.
同美國的鉆探情況一樣，加拿大的鉆探是臨時的。
But environmental groups and some indigenous people advocate more lasting restrictions,
但是環境組織和一些本地居民提倡實施更持久的限制，
on the ground that the Arctic is particularly ecologically fragile, far from clean-up crews and blanketed for much of the year in oil-trapping ice.
理由是北極的生態尤其脆弱，這兒遠離清理團隊，鉆取石油的冰面常年是草木不生。
A vigorous argument about whether to open pristine bits of coastline to drilling had already been under way in Norway.
關于是否要開放原始的海岸線進行鉆探，一直以來在挪威引起激烈的辯論。
The spill has made a big impression in the country, says Kristin Halvorsen, who leads one of the parties in the governing coalition and opposes the expansion,
執政聯盟領導人之一，反對擴大鉆探規模的克里斯蒂哈爾芙森稱，墨西哥灣漏油事件在全國引起很大反響，
because it shows that even with a lot of security measures and top modern technology, you can't insure against accidents when you are working with oil.
因為這表明，即使有很多的安全措施和先進的現代技術，當你跟石油共事時，是無法保證沒有事故得。
The row is threatening to undermine the coalition, with the prime minister refusing to rule out further drilling.
由于總理拒絕排除未來鉆探的可能性，關于鉆探的爭論威脅要損害執政聯盟。
Russia's parliament, too, has begun debating updated environmental laws to address offshore spills—a move the government supports.
俄國的議會同樣已經開始就應付近海石油泄漏制定最新的環境法律展開辯論-政府支持這一舉動。
Only Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory with high hopes for an oil-fuelled bonanza, is pressing ahead undaunted with plans to expand oil exploration.
只有丹麥的海外郡格林蘭島，義無反顧地推行擴大石油開采計劃。
Its government has approved drilling this summer in Baffin Bay, close to its maritime boundary with Canada.
這個小島上有著豐富的石油礦藏。政府已經同意今年夏天在巴芬海灣進行開采活動，這個海灣與加拿大的海上國界離得很近。
That decision has alarmed Jim Prentice, Canada's environment minister, who wants the highest environmental standards to be applied.
這個決定讓加拿大的環境部長吉姆普蘭提斯大為震驚，他希望實行最高層次的環境標準。
Mr Prentice and his counterparts from other Arctic states met in Greenland this week, to discuss offshore drilling among other topics.
普蘭提斯先生和來自其他北極國家的同行們本周在格林蘭島開會，討論近海鉆探和其他話題。
The oil industry is relatively confident that their response to events farther south will not be too restrictive.
石油工業對此相對有信心，他們對往更南方開采的反應不會太限制。
After all, if the Arctic does not provide new supplies of oil, they will have to be obtained somewhere else.
畢竟，如果北極不能提供新的石油，就肯定要從其他地方獲取。
As Benoit Beauchamp of the Arctic Institute of North America, a Canadian research outfit, notes:
北美北極研究所是加拿大的一個研究機構，他的領導人貝諾伊特比查姆普稱：
That somewhere else might be the oil sands, which have their own environmental problems,
有些地方也許有油砂，這些地方有自己的環境問題；
or it could be coming from places where you have to deal with warlords and terrorists, like Africa, or the Middle East, where we pretty much have to send armies to protect the oil and gas.
或者這些油砂的產地有軍國主義和恐怖分子，例如非洲或是中東，我們肯定要派軍隊去保護石油和天然氣。
