Shell's spill response equipment, including this fleet of four small aluminum boats provided by the Ukpeagvik Inupiat Corporation, is stored by a frozen lagoon outside Wainwright.
The Wainwright inlet where it will be accessed is frozen solid, almost a month before the end of open water season. Oil giant Shell plan to bring a pipeline onshore outside the remote coastal community that will feed an estimated $2.4 trillion worth of oil into the existing infrastructure on land. Cleaning up an oil spill in Arctic waters has not been proven possible.