With big oil companies eager to expand offshore exploration in the Arctic, an environmental group yesterday warned that the US is ill-prepared to deal with an oil spill there.

Freezing conditions, high seas and fragile ecosystems are among the dangers that could imperil operations to clean up a potential spill in the Arctic, where a gusher like BP’s in the Gulf of Mexico could have disastrous consequences, said the report by the Pew Environment Group.

The report said drillers are unprepared for near-hurricane force winds, six- to nine-metre seas, massive blocks of ice, total darkness for parts of the year and hundreds of miles between drilling sites in northern Alaska and major ports where supplies could be flown in case of trouble. Walrus, seal, fish and polar bear habitats could be disrupted and entire remote communities wiped out if their means of subsistence living are eliminated by a toxic spill, the report said.

“I think there is a great deal of pressure right now to move forward with offshore drilling and I am hoping that our report and raising these questions will help guide towards a more precautionary approach in the Arctic,” said Marilyn Heiman, director of the US Arctic programme at the Pew Trusts.

Skimmers that lift oil off the surface of the water will not work in the icy Arctic. Also unknown is how boats could navigate broken ice conditions to reach a spill site and if chemical dispersants that were widely used after the BP spill would work.

“Oil does not biodegrade nearly as quickly in cold waters,” Ms Heiman said. In the case of the Exxon Valdez spill, “it is still causing toxicity in some species after 20 years, and that includes otters.”

The report urged the federal government to do major research on the Arctic marine environment before oil and gas exploration is allowed to go ahead, and said risk assessments and spill response strategies must be tailored to Arctic conditions.

There are four current drilling operations off the Alaskan coast in the Beaufort Sea and two in the works, but those are near the coasts and drillers use manmade ice islands and roads to reach their rigs, Mr Heiman explained.

Logistics could prove a major obstacle if a spill were to occur in deeper waters, with the port of Barrow in northern Alaska 1,166 kilometres by air from the capital Anchorage and 1,528 kilometres from the Coast Guard base in the southern port of Kodiak.

The closest major port, Dutch Harbour, is 2,092 kilometres by sea from Barrow.