Page 32 - Aruba Bank 24 JULY 2015
P. 32
CLASSIFIED A27
Thursday 23 July 2015
Shell gets permits for limited oil
drilling in Arctic waters
KEVIN FREKING The Interior Department’s Some environmental
DAN JOLING Bureau of Safety and
Associated Press Environmental Enforce- groups worry the Arctic’s
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) ment said in a statement
— The Obama administra- that Shell could submit an remoteness and rugged
tion has given Royal Dutch amended application for
Shell PLC approval to be- deeper drilling when the conditions will hamper
gin limited exploratory oil capping stack can be de-
drilling off Alaska’s north- ployed within 24 hours. cleanup efforts in the event
west coast. “Without question, activi-
The two permits issued ties conducted offshore of a spill, risking devasta-
Wednesday clear the way Alaska must be held to
for drilling in Chukchi Sea the highest safety, envi- tion of a fragile ecosystem.
but with conditions. ronmental protection and
Shell can only drill the top emergency response stan- Cindy Shogan, executive
sections of wells because dards,” said the bureau’s
the company doesn’t director, Brian Salerno. director of the Alaska Wil-
have on site the criti- The department had given
cal emergency response a conditional OK in May to derness League, called it
equipment to cap the Shell’s drilling plan, pend-
well in case of a leak. That ing the company’s ability the wrong choice.
equipment is aboard a ship to obtain all necessary per-
headed to Portland, Or- mits from state and federal “This decision puts the fate
egon, for repairs. agencies.
of the fragile Arctic Ocean,
and our climate future, in
the hands of Shell Oil,” she
said in a statement.
Shell spokeswoman Kel-
ly op de Weegh said by
email that receipt of the
drilling permits signals the
end of the permitting pro-
cess, and drilling will begin
when the area is clear of
sea ice.
“We remain committed
to operating in a safe, en-
vironmentally responsible
manner and look forward
to evaluating what could
potentially become a na-
tional energy resource
base,” she said.
Proponents say drilling can
be conducted safely with
existing technologies and
that future production de-
cades from now will help
sustain the country’s ener-
gy needs and limit reliance
on imports.
Shell and other companies
hope to tap into one of
the country’s last great pe-
troleum reserves. The U.S.
Geological Survey esti-
mates the Arctic offshore
reserves in the Chukchi
and Beaufort seas at 26 bil-
lion barrels of recoverable
oil.
Arctic offshore drilling is
strongly supported by
elected officials in Alas-
ka, where upward of 90
percent of state govern-
ment is funded by the oil
industry.q
