In July, an excavator and 15 shipping containers arrived at the Nerlerit Inaat port in eastern Greenland. According to Danwatch, the shipment is the first wave of equipment for Greenland Energy’s planned exploration campaign in Jameson Land. The company has said another 300 containers and a drilling rig are scheduled to arrive in September. Greenland’s Ministry of Business and Mineral Resources, however, says the project does not yet have the approvals required to begin drilling.

What began as a permitting dispute is evolving into an early test of how the U.S. is pursuing its expanding strategic interests in Greenland, placing the project at the complicated intersection of energy policy, Arctic strategy, and Greenlandic sovereignty.