Shell's First Accident Occurs En Route To Arctic Drilling

Well, that didn’t take long.

For years, environmental advocates pleaded with the U.S. government to keep Big Oil from getting its grubby little hands on the Arctic.

Thanks to pressure from industry lobbyists and politicians with pockets full of Big Oil’s money, the Obama Administration chose to ignore the scientists who said the Arctic is too fragile, and we’d have no way to clean up a spill if it happened. They ignored the environmental activists who said the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was proof that Big Oil lacked a safety culture, and needed more regulation and oversight to make sure people and ecosystems were protected from toxic contamination.

Instead, President Obama gave Shell the green light to start off-shore Arctic drilling in Alaska’s Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. Big Oil couldn’t wait. They loaded up their drilling ships and set sail as fast as possible ready to make all those environmentalists eat their words. But they didn’t get far.

In an embarrassing turn of events, a Shell oil drilling ship lost its mooring and ran aground in an Alaskan harbor on Saturday. Called the “Discoverer,” the ship is owned by Noble Corp, and is among a Shell fleet to soon head north for planned exploratory drilling in the Arctic waters of the Chukchi and Beaufort seas.

No damage was caused, to the harbor or the vessel, but still. If they can’t even keep the ship on course, what makes them so sure they can drill for oil in a completely foreign, frozen, deepwater environment without making a more serious mistake?

“Environmentalists say the anchorage problem is yet another reason to question Shell’s Arctic plan, particularly after the same vessel ran into a mooring problem in a severe storm in New Zealand waters last year,” reports the Daily Mail.

Obama Administration’s Plan For Arctic Offshore Drilling Safety

Arctic Oil Drilling 23 Years After Exxon Valdez

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federico b.

7:09AM PDT on Aug 22, 2012

E' avvenuto quello che tutti gli scienziati dicevano. Che SCHIFO!!!

August 22
send a green star

Anna M.

3:14PM PDT on Aug 20, 2012

Chief Seattle, 1854
Humankind has not woven the web of life.
We are but one thread within it.
Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.
All things are bound together.
All things connect.

Cree Prophecy:
When all the trees have been cut down,
When all the animals have been hunted,
When all the waters are polluted,
When all the air is unsafe to breathe,
Only then will you discover
You cannot eat money.

August 20
send a green star

Valentina R.

4:59PM PDT on Aug 7, 2012

Go home, Shell.

August 7
send a green star

Nancy G E.

10:47AM PDT on Aug 6, 2012

I HAVE 120 SINGLE PAGE PETITION PAPERS FOR PEOPLE TO SIGN TO SAVE THE ARCTIC. I HOPE EVERY PAGE IS SIGNED.

August 6
send a green star

Terri H.

7:36AM PDT on Aug 6, 2012

SAVE THE ARCTIC......SHELL GO AWAY!!!!!!!!

Vanessa W.

5:34AM PDT on Jul 25, 2012

Do politicians really believe they know more than the scientists & environmental experts with all their combined knowledge. They would have us think so. They show themselves to be totally lacking in being able to make any intelligent decisions. They are not fooling anybody with their lies, this is pure corporate greed, there are other technololgies worth pursuing, but this is easy money for them.