(Photo by Valerie Costa)
According to MarineTraffic.com tracking and photos tweeted by drilling opponents, the leased-by-Shell drillship Noble Discoverer is starting its journey to the Arctic. Its departure from Everett comes two weeks and one day after Shell’s other rig, Polar Pioneer, left Terminal 5 in West Seattle. At one point, it was expected that Noble Discoverer also would come to T-5 as part of Foss’s interim lease, but instead it’s been in Everett since its Puget Sound arrival. Polar Pioneer arrived in the Aleutian Islands last weekend as a stop along the way to the Chukchi Sea; several other Shell vessels that have spent time at T-5 in recent weeks are there already – including Aiviq and Harvey Explorer – or en route, including Harvey Champion, now in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. When they’ll return depends on what happens or doesn’t happen in the Arctic between now and September.