Obama Administration Gives Green Light for Offshore Oil Drilling in the Arctic

[Orwellian_Ghost]

US Gives Shell Green Light for Offshore Oil Drilling in the Arctic

Conservationists say the decision by the Obama administration to allow drilling in the Beaufort Sea repeats Bush era mistakes

by Ed Pilkington

Conservationist groups based in Alaska have accused the Obama administration of repeating the mistakes of George Bush after it gave the conditional go-ahead for Shell to begin drilling offshore for oil and natural gas in the environmentally sensitive Beaufort Sea.


Conservationists fear the decision to allow Shell to drill for offshore oil in the Arctic will threaten polar bears and endangered animals. Photograph: Hans Strand/ Hans Strand/Corbis

The Minerals Management Service, part of the federal Interior Department, yesterday gave Shell the green light to begin exploratory wells off the north coast of Alaska in an Arctic area that is home to large numbers of endangered bowhead whales and polar bears, as well as walruses, ice seals and other species. The permission would run from July to October next year, though Shell has promised to suspend operations from its drill ship from late August when local Inuit people embark on subsistence hunting.

Environmentalists condemned the decision to allow drilling, saying it would generate industrial levels of noise in the water and pollute both the air and surrounding water. Rebecca Noblin, an Alaskan specialist with the conservation group the Centre for Biological Diversity, said: "We're disappointed to see the Obama administration taking decisions that will threaten the Arctic. It might as well have been the Bush administration."

Whit Sheard, the Alaskan expert with the environmental group Pacific Environment, accused the US Interior Department of "again trying to implement an overly aggressive Bush-era drilling plan in one of the riskiest areas on the planet to drill".

...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/oct/20/us-shell-drilling-arctic

Shell Gets White House Approval to Drill in Beaufort
Libby Casy, APRN – Anchorage

The Obama Administration has approved a drilling plan by Shell Oil in the Beaufort Sea – with conditions. The federal Minerals Management Service announced on Monday it will let Shell drill two sites in Camden Bay, west of the village of Kaktovik. The company bought lease sales to the area in 2005 and 2007. Minerals Management Service Regional Director for Alaska, John Goll says Shell has the green light to explore for oil and gas – if it meets certain conditions.

http://aprn.org/2009/10/19/alaska-news-nightly-october-19-2009/

[Craftsman]

1. Good we need energy independence

in all sources of energy.

[Orwellian_Ghost]

3. How's that gonna work?

There is scarcely more than a years worth of oil on the northern slope at present rates of US consumption. We need different modalities not the same old corporate carnage which is what this is.

Have you researched the matter?

[Craftsman]

4. It is a start, and yes more is needed

[Statistical]

7. You are aware that you can't pump it out in a year.

So it is more like 5% of US consumption for next 20 years.

Now imports only make about half of US consumption so it would replace about 10% of US imports. That alone would reduce trade deficit by $100B or so. $100B more staying in the US economy rather than filler the coffers of foreign govts.

[arcadian]

9. wow... you're so smart...

[vadawg]

15. id say smart and factual, which is pretty much what you want froma post

isnt it....

[arcadian]

17. I'd rather just read the dictionary.

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[arcadian]

19. When did you stop making sense?

It was so gradual, I didn't even notice.

[vadawg]

20. rofl nice riposte :)

[Winterblues]

27. Have you researched the matter?...Have you?

The Beaufort Sea is not the North Slope.....Apparently there are tremendous reserves in the Beaufort Sea and with the ice retreating as it is the dangers are not as severe. They still exist though. Huge ice flows can do tremendous damage to a drilling platform.

[asdjrocky]

25. Nuts.

[Craftsman]

28. Whether like it or not the economy is the most pressing issue we got now

Energy independence will help greatly with that.

[asdjrocky]

29. Don't assume I'm stupid.

This isn't even a baby step toward energy independence. This is a way to give a lot of money to an oil company.

[Craftsman]

31. It is both and we need to bring more domestic sources online for another reason

Do you think we would be in Iraq or even care about that sand pit if we produced enough energy for ourselves.

[imdjh]

2. It's gotta come from some place. Better cold water than warm.

[arcadian]

5. Meet the New Boss... Same as the Old boss...

[QC]

6. How very, very hopeful and changealicious! n/t

[SammyWinstonJack]

8. +1

:spray: :evilgrin:

[QC]

10. Seriously, the new energy plan is doubleplusgood, don't you think? n/t

[arcadian]

11. Well, Goldstein is keeping us from exploiting the massive reserves in Eurasia

[QC]

12. We are at war with Eurasia. We have always been at war with Eurasia.

I hate Goldstein!

[arcadian]

13. Is time for the 2 minutes of Hate? I missed it yesterday.

Did Goldstein release another audio tape?

[QC]

16. We don't have to make do with only two minutes hate, brother.

We have 24/7 hate now.

Damn that fringe left and their pet issues!

[SammyWinstonJack]

14. Doubleplusgood.

:thumbsup:

[Individualist]

38. +2

[earth mom]

46. ROFL at Changealicious! How very hoperrific and changelicious!!!

:rofl:

Couldn't find better words to like totally for sure speak to the airhead quality of the cheerleaders!

[ipaint]

21. Is it worth the risk.

"We just don't know enough to be going forward with industrial activities in the Arctic," said Michael Levine of Oceana, which has urged a time-out in offshore drilling until effects on endangered whales and polar bears and other Arctic species can be assessed, along with the potentially devastating effects of climate change on the region.

"The reality of offshore oil drilling is that accidents will happen. And when oil spills in Arctic ice, there is no cleaning it up," Chuck Clusen, director of Alaska projects at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement. "A blow-out like the one that recently despoiled waters off the coast of Australia would leave oil in the waters off the coast of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for decades, illing whales, seals, fish and birds and turning irreplaceable spawning and feeding grounds into an ecological wasteland."

In its official comments on the Minerals Management Service's 2010-15 leasing plan for the entire outer continental shelf, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in September also urged the agency to "more directly address the challenges of Arctic and subarctic spill response...before proposing further oil and gas development in Alaska."

The agency said "no leasing should occur in the Arctic Sea under this proposed plan until additional information is gathered and additional research is conducted and evaluated regarding oil spill risk...and possible human dimension impacts on Alaska Native cultures from oil and gas exploration activities and potential oil spills."

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2009/10/arctic-offshore-drilling-plan-cleared-for-beaufort-sea.html

How much oil is recoverable, how long will it take to get at it, how much time does it buy and is it worth destroying huge areas of habitat and indigenous people's cultures and economies.

[blindpig]

22. The bus rolls on...

There's room under the bus for whales and polar bears too.

[QC]

23. Fear not, there is room for all under the Hopemobile!

It's a good thing, too.

[SammyWinstonJack]

24. Hopemobile. Love it!

:spray: :rofl:

[truebrit71]

26. How's that "change" working out for ya?

Ken Salazar okaying the slaughter of wolves, drilling in the arctic, escalation in afghan war, re-authorization of the (un)patriot act...

I am thrilled about all the "change" we're seeing... :eyes:

[Hell Hath No Fury]

30. Fuck. That. Shit.

That is all.

[Orwellian_Ghost]

32. Bump

[QC]

33. You know, this place used to erupt in righteous anger when Bush did this sort of thing.

Now, not so much.

[Karmadillo]

35. Well, that's because it was wrong when Bush did it.

nt

[QC]

36. Very true. n/t

[The Straight Story]

40. He did it because he was evil and loved the rich more than us, Obama does it

but looks so good doing it that it must be right :)

[QC]

41. Plus he has a cute puppy. n/t

[devilgrrl]

45. Yeah, well I can't say that I'm pleased about this or his coddling other Bush toadies

:mad:

[faithnotgreed]

34. this needs a bit more front and center attention

[BeHereNow]

37. Any questions NOW, about whose interests Obama represents? ( I'll give you a hint...)

It aint, WE, the PEOPLE.

BHN

[Individualist]

39. DLC prevails once again

:puke:

[Blue_In_AK]

42. What's it going to take

to change the way of the world? It's time for a major paradigm shift.

[amborin]

43. ghastly! we should wean people off their gas guzzling habits!

[neverforget]

44. Awesome! All that CO2 we've thrown into the air from all the oil we've burned so

far has opened up a previously inaccessible region to drill for more oil! Thanks oil! :eyes:

[earth mom]

47. I'm waiting for Al Gore to speak up about all this anti-mother earth shit the Obama administration

is pulling.

Un fucking believable!

:argh: