The environmental group Greenpeace is ramping up efforts to oppose oil drilling in the Arctic. The Russian state-owned energy giant Gazprom is set to become the first company to produce Arctic oil through drilling operations in the Pechora Sea. On Tuesday, Greenpeace warned an oil spill there would cause irreparable damage, threatening some 50,000 square miles. Greenpeace executive director Kumi Naidoo said the group plans to continue to challenge drilling platforms in the Arctic.

Kumi Naidoo: “Our political leaders are in denial about how serious the problem is. I mean, right now, if we look at the actual impacts that are happening, the U.S. in July, hottest ever recorded temperature in — from the time temperatures were — have actually kept, 15 states with drought. Given the urgency, we do not make any apologies for the need for peaceful, nonviolent direct action that actually gets our political leaders and our business leaders to recognize that time is fast running out and that we have to act with greater urgency and with a greater level of ambition, if we are to avert catastrophic climate change.”