Drive to South Pole won’t harm environment, claims team of Drive Around the World

Team to use soft-track vehicles, ultra-lean gas, bio-fuel and fuel cells.

5 May, 2007: A team from the United States planning to drive to the South Pole later in 2007, has claimed that the journey will not pose any threat to Antarctica’s unspoiled environment since the drivers would be using soft-track vehicles.

Nick Baggarly, executive director of the expedition, called Zero South, said the drivers would use bio-fuel, a hydrogen fuel cell, electric batteries and ultra-lean gasoline for the 10-day, 1,600-kilometre (1,000-mile) journey along the Antarctic ice highway developed by the United states.

He defended the Antarctic team’s plan, saying that the vehicles would demonstrate the viability of alternative fuels, after Alan Hemmings, Antarctic expert and academic, raised concerns that the trek would stress the fragile environment of the frozen continent.

According to Nick Baggarly, the drive to Antarctica will have a very low impact, nearly-zero impact, and will be carbon-neutral. The vehicles will not have tyres; they will use mat tracks.

The vehicles also  will not cross protected Antarctica’s dryland areas, or sea ice, wildlife areas or lakes on their route to the pole, promises Nick Baggarly, a member of Drive Around the World, a non-profit group comprising scientists and others of the San Francisco area.

An environmental evaluation of the Antarctic project is being developed for the United Sates Environmental Protection Agency. The United States National Science Foundation also is examining the proposed expedition.

Full details of the trip, Nick Baggarly, would be made known if and when the team gets approvals from the necessary bodies.

The United States National Science Foundation developed the ice highway from the north Antarctic coast to the South Pole to carry supplies to its science base at the South Pole using crawler tractors and sleds, avoiding cargo airplane flights.

The four alternative fuels being proposed for the trip represent “the zero-emission and low-emission solution” instead of oil products generating greenhouse gases, according to Nick Baggarly.