Rocket launch should be delayed to avoid dumping toxic fuel into North water polynya

WWF
IQALUIT – World Wildlife Fund Canada’s Arctic VP Paul Crowley made the following statement regarding the request made by the Inuit Circumpolar Council Pikialasorsuaq Commission for the governments of Canada and Denmark to demand the postponement of a rocket launch scheduled for October 13 until a non-toxic launch fuel option can be found.
 
“WWF-Canada shares the concerns of the Pikialasorsuaq Commission that the trajectories of this launch, which are carefully planned and very accurate, will drop leftover hydrazine fuel into the Pikialasorsuaq or North water polynya, one of the most ecologically sensitive areas in the circumpolar Arctic. We echo Canadian commissioner Eva Aariak’s request for governments to apply the precautionary principal and postpone this launch until we know more about the health and environmental risks of the residual hydrazine fuel and metal debris, or until an alternative fuel is identified. Inuit have depended on this region for millennia as a rich source of food and as a part of their cultural and spiritual identity. The consequences of proceeding with this launch as scheduled could be disastrous for the people and species that call this region home.”
 

About the rocket launch

  • The rocket is scheduled to launch from Russia’s Plesetsk Cosmodrome and deliver a European Space Agency satellite to orbit on Oct. 13, 2017.
  • Russia often uses repurposed SS-19 intercontinental ballistic missiles to launch commercial and military satellites. 
  • The trajectory of this rocket launch is likely to drop the rocket’s second stage into the Pikialasorsuaq (North water polynya), dispersing an unknown amount of leftover hydrazine fuel into the water. 
  • There is also a concern for human safety, as the distance between Canada’s Ellesmere Island and the west coast of Greenland is as little as 32 kilometres in this region.
     

About the Pikialasorsuaq

  • Polynyas are area of open water surrounded by sea ice. The Pikialasorsuaq (North water polynya) is the most biologically productive ecosystem north of the Arctic Circle. 
  • It is an important marine area for Inuit and the species upon which high Arctic communities rely.
  • As climate change opens the Arctic to increased economic activity, Inuit in the region have expressed a desire to explore locally driven management options before shipping, tourism, fishing and development opportunities increase.
  • This led to the creation of the Pikialasorsuaq Commission, made up of Inuit from both Canada and Greenland, which works to protect the North water polynya.
 

About World Wildlife Fund Canada

WWF-Canada creates solutions to the environmental challenges that matter most for Canadians. We work in places that are unique and ecologically important, so that nature, wildlife and people thrive together. Because we are all wildlife. For more information, visit wwf.ca.
 

For further information

Megan Nesseth, communications specialist, [email protected], +1 416-904-2482