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Loading...Salazar Says New Arctic Drilling Will Have To Wait
Secretary Ken Salazar announced that Royal Dutch Shell and other companies anxious to begin offshore Arctic oil-development will have to wait until more is known about the potential danger of operating in this freezing ocean environment.
Salazar visited Alaska’s North Slope this past week, holding a town hall meeting in Barrow, touring the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, and flying over the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, the focus of much heated debate regarding Arctic drilling.
During a press conference at the end of his brief Alaskan tour, Salazar said reports on what caused the Deepwater Horizon blowout in the Gulf of Mexico will have to be examined before Shell can be allowed to commence drilling new wells off Alaska’s northern shores.
“If you look at the Chukchi, nothing, or very little, is known about the reservoir pressures that will be encountered. We know that it would be very difficult to mount the kind of oil spill response that has been mounted in the Gulf of Mexico,” Salazar told reporters during a press conference.
This extends a temporary suspension on Arctic drilling enacted by a Federal judge two months ago, citing the former MMS’ failure to properly analyze the environmental affect of oil and gas development.
Shell Alaska has already invested $3.5 billion in the five wells it plans to drill next year in Alaska’s Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. North Slope residents, mostly Inupiat Eskimo, are staunchly opposed to offshore oil development.
According to Care2′s Laura Bailey, one of the most significant dangers of Arctic drilling little is known about dealing with oil spills in ice-filled waters. Despite the industry’s claims that offshore drilling is safe, the massive Deepwater Horizon spill, and subsequent Vermillion production platform explosion in the Gulf of Mexico have proven safety regulations aren’t enough to prevent disaster.
What oceanographers do know is that oil tends to collect in between and under breaks in the sea ice, putting the many Arctic animals that spend a great amount of time submerged or resting at water’s edge near these ice breaks in significant danger.
On August 31, four Greenpeace activists scaled an oil rig off the coast of Greenland to protest all drilling operations in the delicate Arctic ecosystem. Although they were eventually arrested, they were successful in significantly delaying the company’s oil drilling operation.
According to surveys conducted by David Binder Research, support for offshore drilling in the Arctic has slipped substantially since last September, dropping to 46% this year from 58% who in 2009 either strongly supported or somewhat supported new offshore operations (LA Times).
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Read more: alaska, arctic, environment & wildlife, greenpeace, offshore drilling, oil spill, polar bears, salazar, shell, sustaintmc
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Elaine A - I find some of your comments and language offensive to women. You seem to have alot of bottled…
Noted :-0
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192 comments
+ add your ownDidn't the oil industry say that drilling the the Gulf was safe, How the h..... do we believe anything they tell us.
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I may pass out,,, he actually said NO?
Mister yes man to the oil companies said no?
Catch me Joy I feel faint:)
Zalazar has not one time ever done anything good!!!! or will his partner in crime with him OBAMA!!!!!! OH!!! but they are going to DRILL BABY DRILL!!! Why do you think they took alll the will horses and Burroses from the land they don't own but we the people do. Sold them to slaughter and leasing out the land to cattle and sheep that the horses and borroses are suppose to be on and I see some people say way to go Zalazar, Hua! Got be a little off in the head or one heck of a Obama fan. Where do you think the Ruby Pipeline is running from? Yep Alaska. Good old Zalazar and Obama ooppss!!! don't turn your back you will get one up your hind end too. I didn't vote for the jerk for I knew he was not going to do nothing 2 years NOTHING!! but havick. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it. How do you like me now??? doesn't matter the truth hurts hua?
All three petitions signed.
NO..NO..NO...NO MORE OIL DRILLING.
it nearing winter so no drilling yet
Thanks for the heads up.
All three petitions signed, thanks for posting.
Stricter regulations and safety,safety,safety.
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