Greenland: Show me the money - and what else?
Tuesday, August 30, 2011 at 7:11AM 
FT story on Greenland's oil rush and how it's driving the independence movement toward it's next goal. Having achieved self-governance in 2009, it remains a "dependency" on Denmark. But with 52b barrels offshore, the next step seems clear: economic independence that ultimately allows for true political independence.
I wouldn't try to portray the Greenlanders as chaffing under Danish rule. Honestly, it's hard to imagine anybody chaffing under Danish rule. It's more that the newfound wealth changes things: people want economic advance and once that happens, perceptions change.
Greenland is 85% Inuit and about 15% Danes.
Naturally, the push to access the oil is generating an enviro backlash. Greenpeace is hot on the scene, although the ship seems to be populated totally by foreigners (their effort is dubbed "Operation Foreigner"). The group sees Greenland as a chance to revive itself after some wandering years. Meanwhile, the local activists seem most concerned about creating jobs for Greenlanders.
All rather fascinating to watch as globalization comes big-time to the Arctic.
Reader Comments (5)
Awesome Article.
No huge Greenpeace fan, but exactly what does it matter that there are no Greenlanders in the Greenpeace protest? The oceans are interconnected in a way that globalization can only hope to emulate, and damage to a breeding ground in one only spreads to another. The oceans play a long game, too; the Chinese could only hope to play such a game. We're not even at the beginning of understanding the damage that Deepwater Horizon did to the Gulf, and beyond.
So I'm not saying stop. I do say that the attention GP draws to such drilling projects keeps corporate feet to the safety fire, and public attention to measures taken and errors made.
I had a duty tour in Thule, Greenland in 1970s. Great experience. Both the Inuit and Danes were great folk. I remember my first 'surprise' was watching dog sled races on the ice off Davis Strait. Soon thereafter the winter water near Thule got unusually warm, ice melted, fog covered our area, and the land ice got unbelievably slippery. Many years later I learned that the Davis Strait got rare flows of warm water from Atlantic currents taking unusual twists and turns.
While I was there there was a big push by Green-peace type folks to find out how our tanker ships were leaking fuel into the Strait. No leaks could be found. Years later I learned that some 'visitors' were already searching for natural oil sources. Towards the end of my tour, two contractor employees got drunk and paddled a small boat over to Canada. The Danes watched their safety.
Finally, a military chaplain gave me my first experience with positive, friendly religion under tough, austere conditions. His name was Bob Arinder.
This offers Denmark (and, to a lesser extent, Europe as a whole) something it hasn't had in a long time; a new frontier. It'll be interesting to see who takes advantage of it and whether the process is handled in a better way than previous frontiers.
The push for Greenland is huge. As just one example, a tiny startup, Greenland Minerals and Energy, is working to develop rare earth extraction facilities. They claim projections of being able to supply 20% of the global RE demand.
So much for China's "monopoly", eh?