Tech | August 05, 2011 | 6 comments

U.S. government conditionally approves Shell's oil drilling plans in the Arctic

source: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-shell-arctic-20110805,0,6564052.story

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JanforGore
Reporting from Seattle— Shell Exploration was conditionally cleared Thursday to proceed with the most ambitious oil and gas drilling program ever attempted in the U.S. Arctic, a plan that would offer access to a crucial new domestic energy supply in one of the most environmentally fragile regions on Earth.

After years of legal wrangling by Shell and Arctic conservationists, the exploration plan in the Beaufort Sea off the coast of Alaska was tentatively approved by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, which could clear the way for Shell to begin drilling three exploratory wells as early as next July.

Several key hurdles remain, including federal permits for discharging air pollutants and disturbing the whales, seals, walrus and polar bears that reside near the proposed drilling sites, and those hurdles could easily delay the drilling further, though opponents by now are running short of legal options.

A decision is expected as early as next week on the additional crucial issue of Shell's plan for cleaning up any oil spilled during drilling operations — a matter of concern because of the fragility of the Arctic environment and the difficulty in cleaning up oil amid ice floes, the towering waves of Arctic storms and the long hours of dark once the autumn drilling season winds to a close.

Conservationists also fear that drilling could disrupt a key resting and feeding area in Camden Bay for endangered bowhead whales.

Shell has a separate application under review to launch up to six exploratory wells in the nearby Chukchi Sea, an operation that also could get underway next year if approvals are in place.

"Shell has come back with the largest and most aggressive drilling proposal we've ever seen in the U.S. Arctic. We've never seen anything of this scale before in this country," said Holly Harris, attorney for the environmental law group Earthjustice, which has battled drilling plans in the Arctic.

"This is a disaster waiting to happen…. Scientific integrity and government accountability took their familiar back seat to oil company profits and power today," she said.

But officials in Alaska who have long been frustrated with lengthy court delays over opening production on what they see as a crucial and obvious new energy resource welcomed the federal agency's decision, which followed an earlier approval that was tied up by court orders for additional environmental reviews.

"Approval of this exploration plan is fantastic news for Alaska's oil and gas industry and is a welcome shot in the arm for Alaska's long-term economic good health," Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) said. "I'm confident this will ultimately be the first of many developments to keep oil flowing through Alaska's economic lifeline, the trans-Alaska oil pipeline."
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6 comments // U.S. government conditionally approves Shell's oil drilling plans in the Arctic

  • LivingPong
    • 0
      LivingPong  

    • It's a disgusting highlight of how large multinationals like Shell, who have recently been promoting themselves as being concerned with more responsible behaviour, in fact have been grossly negligent and fail to meet any standard of acceptable behaviour. Allowing Shell to proceed with the proposed development in the Arctic, in the wake of their behaviour in the Niger Delta, surely would send the message that they can operate with impunity in regard to the law. How long before we see a repeat of previous disasters in the highly sensitive environment of the Arctic with devastating results?

    • 10 months ago
  • squarethecircle
  • Wetdog
    • +2
      Wetdog  

    • Notice that the Senators remarks at the end of the article only mention "economic good health". There is NO mention of "people's good health".

      It is interesting that profits are the only consideration.

      Well, here is a new proposal. Oil companies are the most profitable business in the world. The United States is going broke, and Republicans refuse to raise taxes to pay the bills to maintain the system that they are using and abusing to create those profits.

      I propose that we nationalize all energy production and distribution companies, and use the profits to pay the national deficit instead of giving oil and coal away from publically owned lands at bargain basement prices.

      We can keep taxes low with the profits generated by the energy companies. And all people can benefit from the energy they need to use instead of an elite few. And we will get the deficit paid off.

    • 10 months ago
  • JanforGore
  • JanforGore
    • +1
      JanforGore  
    • Image

    • http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/04/us-nigeria-ogoniland-idUSTRE7734MQ2011...

      This is what sHELL did to the NIger Delta.

      'A U.N. report has criticized Shell and the Nigerian government for contributing to 50 years of pollution in a region of the Niger Delta which it says needs the world's largest ever oil clean-up, costing an initial $1 billion and taking up to 30 years.

      The United National Environment Programme (UNEP) analyzed the damage oil pollution has done in Ogoniland, a region in the oil-rich labyrinthine creeks, swamps and waterways of the Niger Delta, the heartland of Africa's largest oil and gas industry.

      Royal Dutch Shell and the Nigerian state-oil firm own most of the oil infrastructure in Ogoniland, although the Anglo-Dutch giant was forced out of operating in the region by communities in 1993 who said it caused pollution that destroyed their fishing environment.

      Shell stopped pumping oil from Ogoniland after a campaign, led by writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, who was later hanged by the Nigerian military government, provoking international outrage.

      "The environmental restoration of Ogoniland could prove to be the world's most wide-ranging and long term oil clean-up exercise ever undertaken," a United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report released on Thursday said.

      "Control and maintenance of oilfield infrastructure in Ogoniland has been and remains inadequate: the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) own procedures have not been applied, creating public health and safety issues."

      The UNEP report said 10 out of the 15 investigated sites which SPDC said they had completely remediated still had pollution exceeding the SPDC and government remediation values.

      Shell, which on Wednesday agreed that an Ogoni community could seek compensation for oil spills in a British court, says most oil spills in the Niger Delta are caused by oil theft and sabotage attacks but says it cleans up whatever the cause.

      PIPELINE SABOTAGE

      "Oil spills in the Niger Delta are a tragedy, and SPDC takes them very seriously," Mutiu Sunmonu, SPDC's Managing Director, said in a statement on its website.

      "Concerted effort is needed on the part of the Nigerian government, working with oil companies and others, to end the blight of illegal refining and oil theft in the Niger Delta . This is the major cause of the environmental damage."

      A spokeswoman for the company said it welcomed the report and would comment further after studying the details.

      UNEP said Ogoniland communities are exposed to hydrocarbons every day as thick black oil floats around the creeks, while the impact on vegetation and fishing areas has been "disastrous."

      In one community, drinking water was contaminated with benzene, a substance known to cause cancer, at levels over 900 times above the World Health Organization guidelines. The site was close to a pipeline owned by Nigeria's state-oil firm NNPC, the report said.

      "We will undertake any clean-up. It doesn't mean we are culpable. Pipeline vandalism, by the very communities who are affected, is the major issue," an NNPC spokesman said. He said he had not read the report.

      While Shell does not operate in Ogoniland anymore, its pipelines and other infrastructure remain and still suffer spillages and sabotage attacks.

      UNEP's report is the most detailed scientific study on any area in the Niger Delta, UNEP and rights groups said. It was paid for partly by Shell after a request by the government.

      $1 BILLION FUND

      The findings were undertaken over a 14-month period, surveyed 122 km (76 miles) of pipeline rights of way, reviewing more than 5,000 medical records and engaging over 23,000 people at local meetings.

      The report recommends that three new institutions are set up to support environmental restoration, which would include a $1 billion fund, contributed to by the oil companies and government for the first five years of the clean-up.

      Amnesty International, a rights group actively involved in Niger Delta environmental problems, said the report proved the Anglo-Dutch major was responsible for the pollution.

      "This report proves Shell has had a terrible impact in Nigeria, but has got away with denying it for decades, falsely claiming they work to best international standards," said Amnesty International Global Issues Director, Audrey Gaughran.

      "Shell must put its hands up, and face the fact that it has to deal with the damage it has caused. Trying to hide behind the actions of others, when Shell is the most powerful actor on the scene, simply won't wash," Gaughran added.'

    • 10 months ago
  • JanforGore
    • +1
      JanforGore  

    • NOT THE ARCTIC. Heartbreaking and outrageous.

      And note the Senator above speaking for this is a Democrat. This is just another gift to their benefactors at the expense of the indigenous people who live there and our ecosystems. I'm ready to march on Washington DC now. They all need to be kicked out of their offices into the street!

    • 10 months ago
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