绿色土地上的黑色宝藏

WHEN Cairn Energy, a British petrochemicals company, this week announced the first firm indication of worthwhile oil deposits off Greenland’s coast, inhabitants of Nuuk, the island’s gritty capital, greeted the news with their customary equanimity. “That’s nice,” said a housewife less interested in the implications of a possible oil bonanza than in negotiating her country’s sole pedestrian crossing in the sleeting rain.

本周，英国石油化工公司凯尔恩能源（Cairn Energy）首次宣布，有确定迹象表明格陵兰岛近海岸处存在着具有开发价值的石油储藏。在该岛首都努克，一个遍地砂砾的城市，当地的居民用他们惯常的平静方式对此消息做出了回应。“这很好,”一位正在赶路的家庭主妇说，在这雪雨纷飞的天气里，她似乎更专注于如何顺利穿越该国特有的人行横道，而对于该国可能存在丰富的石油宝藏则显得意兴阑珊。

Several hundred miles north in Baffin Bay, Greenpeace eco-warriors seeking to halt offshore oil exploration in the Arctic faced down a Danish warship. The government hotly contests Greenpeace’s claim that, because oil degrades far more slowly in freezing waters, a Mexican Gulf-style oil spill would mean calamity for the fragile environment. “Our safety standards are the highest in the world,” says Henrik Stendal, chief geologist at the Government Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum.

努克以北几百英里处的巴芬湾，寻求停止北极近海石油勘探的绿色和平组织的环保卫士们成功解除了一艘丹麦军舰的勘探行动。绿色和平组织宣称，由于石油在冰冻水域的降解速度极其缓慢，万一发生墨西哥湾那样的石油泄露事故,这里脆弱的自然环境将会遭遇一场巨大灾难，但政府对这一说法给予了激烈的辩驳。"我们遵循的安全标准是世界上最严格的,"政府矿产与石油管理局首席地质学家亨利克.斯滕德尔（Henrik Stendal）如是说。

In recent months the bureau has run an extensive public-information programme in Greenland, drawing full houses at meetings throughout the sprawling country. A plethora of newly enacted legislation is designed to avert offshore accidents and to prevent a small spill becoming a big catastrophe should something go wrong.

近几个月，该局在格陵兰岛展开了广泛的公共信息宣传工作，他们行遍这个地域广阔国家的每个角落，召开了数次宣讲集会，每次会议都座无虚席。为了避免各种近海事故和防止小的原油泄露事故演变成大的灾难，大量新制定的法律也同时被颁布实施。

Most of Greenland’s 56,000 inhabitants seem persuaded. Despite the vulnerability of the country’s ice sheet to global warming, a recent Greenpeace meeting in Nuuk drew a paltry 45 people. Even this minimal interest in the environmentalists’ message could fall further as the implications of this week’s news start to sink in.

格陵兰岛五万六千名居民中的大多数人似乎都被说服了。尽管该国冰原在全球变暖的情势下已显得脆弱不堪，但绿色和平组织近期在努克召开的会议却只吸引了区区45名民众参加。随着本周新闻产生的效应逐渐深入民心，民众对环保人士呼声的那点低微关注度甚至会进一步降低。

Greenland has been searching for the black stuff for decades. Five wells drilled in the 1970s turned out to be dry, as was a sixth in 2000. But this one looks like the game-changer. Cairn says it has found natural gas in thin sandlayers in one of its test wells, indicating the presence of oil. Overall, it estimates that the acreage it is licensed to drill in holds 4 billion barrels of oil. Data from the United States Geological Survey suggest the seabed between Greenland and Canada holds a total of 17 billion barrels. There may be further riches off the vast island’s eastern coast. According to some estimates the bedrock beneath the Greenland Sea could hold more oil than the North Sea, which has partially powered the British, Dutch and Norwegian economies for decades. This area will be opened for exploration in 2012.

几十年来，格陵兰岛人一直对黑色宝藏进行着不懈的探寻工作。上世纪70年代他们钻探了五口深井，结果都是干涸井，2000年钻探的第六口井亦是如此。但这次的情况看来完全不同了。凯尔恩能源公司说在其钻探的所有试验井中，有一口井的薄沙层内发现了天然气，证明石油资源的确存在。在对许可钻探区域进行了总体评估后，预计可供开采的石油存量有40亿桶。美国地质调查局的数据资料显示格陵兰和加拿大之间河床的石油存储总量是170亿桶。这个巨大岛屿的东部海岸可能蕴藏着更丰富的石油资源。一些评估数据表明，格陵兰海底基岩存储的石油资源可能比北海更丰富，而北海石油在近几十年内部分地推动了英国，荷兰和挪威经济的发展。该地区将在2012年获准勘探。

Greenland’s exploration adventure does not stop there. Dozens of mining companies are trawling the narrow strip of land abutting its 44,087-kilometre coastline for diamonds, gold and rubies and possibly more exotic treasures.

但格陵兰的勘探探险工作并不会就此止步。数十家矿业公司正沿着与4万4087公里海岸线毗连的狭长陆地带进行地毯式搜索，搜寻着钻石，黄金,红宝石和更多的异国珍宝。

Sniffing opportunity, even before the oil starts flowing and the rubies glisten, the world has started to arrive in Greenland. Australian and American accents are commonplace in Kangerlussuaq international airport. The restaurant at Nuuk’s only upmarket hotel has no difficulty attracting clients for its exclusive wagyu beef fillet.

嗅探到了机会的存在，甚至还未见到石油的涌动和红宝石的光芒，各国人士就已开始纷纷到埠格陵兰岛。在康克鲁斯瓦格（Kangerlussuaq）国际机场，操澳大利亚和美国口音的人随处可见。在努克唯一一家高档酒店的餐厅内，其独家秘制的日本牛排一直广受顾客的青睐。

It is impossible to estimate how much money this bounty could generate for Greenland’s cash-strapped government. But although the potential to transform the economy is obvious, there is no talk yet of using the proceeds to buy full independence from Denmark. Self-government became law only last year, and it will take decades to wean Greenland off its annual DKr3 billion ($500m) grant from Copenhagen—which accounts for over half of Greenland’s revenues.

这种宝贵的物产到底能为资金短缺的格陵兰政府带来多少财富是难以估量的。但是尽管对经济转变的潜在作用是十分明显的，格陵兰政府至今还没有任何意向利用这笔资金收益从丹麦政府手中买断该国的完全自主权。该岛政府的自治也只是去年才获得法律的承认，格陵兰政府每年有一半多的财政收入要依赖于哥本哈根的拨款，总值达30亿克朗（DKr）[2](合5亿美元），要想摆脱这种财政依赖的状况，格陵兰政府还需要花费几十年的时间。

As for the locals, having had their hopes raised and dashed so many times before, they are taking nothing for granted. “We won’t get rich overnight,” says Brian Juhl, a supermarket manager. “But perhaps in the future.”

对当地人而言，他们的希望曾多次地燃起幻灭，他们现在已经不存在什么侥幸心理了。超市经理布赖恩.朱尔（Brian Juhl）说，“我们不会一夜暴富,但将来也许有一天会如偿所愿。”

[译注]

[1] 格陵兰在它的官方语言丹麦语的字面意思为“绿色的土地”。据史书记载，约在公元982年，北欧人埃里克和他的伙伴从冰岛出发，向西北航行，去寻找新大陆，却意外发现了一个大岛。经过两个夏季的考察，终于在该岛西南沿海地段找到了几片平坦之地。这几片平坦的沿海土地在地形上可防御北极寒风的袭击，而且在北极短暂的夏季还长满青嫩的植被。面对四周一片冰天雪地的荒原，埃里克情有独钟地将这片长满绿色植被的没海地段命名为“格陵兰”，意为“绿色的土地”。

[2] dänische Krone (丹麦货币单位)克朗