Norway Debates the Promise, Costs of New Drilling

"Where Norway can make a huge difference is what we can do in terms of our research of new technology in oil and gas," Store said.

But even some backers of carbon-capture and storage strategies -- Norway has already buried more than 1 million tons of carbon dioxide under the sea -- say the government is making a mistake in pushing aggressively for energy exploration in a melting ecosystem.

"We have a responsibility to manage the Arctic, not based on local and regional welfare, [but] for managing this important ecosystem in an environmental way," said Frederic Hauge, who heads the environmental group Bellona.

Norwegians' domestic activity releases 17 to 18 tons of carbon dioxide per person annually, Hauge said, but that figure balloons to 124.7 tons if it includes emissions from all the petroleum shipped overseas.

"In my opinion, that is the right way to look at the moral commitment we have," he said. He added that Norwegians have become dependent on money from energy exploitation: "We are a country of petroholics. A nice, little, selfish country of petroholics."

In a nation that prides itself on its commitment to social responsibility at home and abroad, that sort of rhetoric stings.

This is a country, after all, that has diverted a significant chunk of its oil profits to create a $300 billion pension fund that seeks to invest only in overseas enterprises that do not conflict with its values. A philosopher advises Norway's central bank, which manages the fund, on how to steer clear of morally questionable investments, and an independent ethics commission recommends when the fund should divest itself of objectionable holdings.

The fund divested stock in Lockheed Martin on grounds that the company makes cluster bombs and land mines, and in Wal-Mart because of the retail chain's controversial labor practices.

"What we've done, in one generation, is remove value from under the seabed and put it into the bank," Store said. "We did not end up in the 'oil curse' " -- the web of corruption and economic inequality afflicting many oil-rich nations.

But some Norwegians still fear that the government does not recognize the moral implications of its activities. Aili Keskitalo, a leader of the indigenous Sami people (also known as Lapps), said the "oil rush in the Arctic" may have an environmental impact that far outlasts the drilling.

Keskitalo, who is president of the Samis' parliament and lives in the High North, said indigenous leaders have not had as much input as they would like into national policy, and Samis do not receive oil and gas royalties because the resources lie under the sea.

They have begun to lobby oil companies directly to try to extract concessions. While they have had some success, she said, that does not compensate for the fact that Samis' traditional knowledge about fishing and reindeer herding is becoming obsolete as the climate changes.

"We all know it [drilling] will last for 20 to 50 years, and then we will still be here after our guests will leave," Keskitalo said. "And we will have to live with the consequences."

In late June, State Secretary Liv Monica Stubholt, whose portfolio includes energy and environmental issues, traveled to Tromso to meet with scientists at the Norwegian Polar Institute and observe how global warming is reshaping the region.

"We will be producing and selling oil for a long time yet," she predicted, but she said Norwegians are aware that they will ultimately be judged both by how they contributed to climate change and by how they sought to stop it.

"It is the yardstick by which we will be measured in the future," Stubholt said.