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Breaking News

Gene Jenks and students at East Three School in Inuvik, NT

Photo: Drew Ann Wake

What happened when Dome's drillships arrived in Arctic waters in the summer of 1976?
We invited Drew Ann Wake, who was a radio reporter for CBC at the time, to tell us.

Photo: Michael Jackson

Drew Ann had covered the hearing in Paulatuk where Peter Green had expressed
concern about the dangers posed by offshore drilling.

Click to view

Photo: Roger W. Smith

At the hearing in Inuvik scientist Jim Shearer described his research, using sonar to view
the sea bottom. He expressed two concerns about the polar pack ice. The first was ice.

Image: Markus Radtke

The wind could blow pack ice toward the drillship, scouring the sea bottom.
The crew might have to move the drillship to escape being crushed.

Image: Markus Radtke

What if the floating ice knocked off the blowout preventer?
That could cause a blowout, spreading oil or gas under the ice.

Photo: Drew Ann Wake

Students discussed the concerns of Vince Steen and Jim Shearer. They debated:
How would a radio news reporter cover the arrival of the drill ships in Tuktoyaktuk?

Students wrote a radio news report for the day when the drillships arrived in the Arctic.
These four questions helped them write their report.

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Photo: Linda MacCannell

Students asked Drew Ann: "What happened that summer?" She described the last days
of the drilling season and the tense weeks that followed.

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Photo: Drew Ann Wake

Gene Jenks helped students prepare to interview Drew Ann. He suggested:
"A question that can be answered yes or no will not dig into the meat of the issue."

Photo: Drew Ann Wake

Listen to the interview. Did the students ask good questions?
What new information did their questions reveal?

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