Shell Gets Tentative Approval to Drill in Arctic

Source: The New York Times

WASHINGTON — The Department of Interior on Thursday granted Royal Dutch Shell a key approval needed to begin drilling exploratory wells in the Arctic Ocean next summer, another sign that the Obama administration is easing the regulatory clampdown on offshore oil drilling that it imposed after last year’s deadly accident in the Gulf of Mexico.

The move confirms President Obama’s willingness to approve expanded domestic oil and gas exploration in response to high gasoline prices and continuing high levels of unemployment. It comes as the pace of drilling permits in the Gulf of Mexico is quickening, including the permitting of a Shell floating drill rig for a 4,000-foot-deep well on Thursday, allowing the company to return all five of its rigs to work after a long drilling halt.

Thursday’s decision to tentatively approve Shell’s plan to drill four exploratory wells in the Beaufort Sea off the North Slope of Alaska represented a major step in the company’s efforts to exploit the vast oil and gas resources under the Arctic Ocean, although a number of hurdles remain. The company has spent nearly $4 billion and more than five years trying to win the right to drill in the frigid waters, against the opposition of many environmental advocates and of Alaska natives who depend on the sea for their livelihoods.

Opponents say the harsh conditions there heighten the dangers of drilling and make cleaning up any potential spill vastly more complicated than in the comparatively benign waters of the gulf.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/05/us/05shell.html

:bounce:

PB

is with a sharp long stiletto in them

I thought it was evident. And yes I still have the knife in mine also.

:eyes:

http://www.thedailygreen.com/weird-weather/weather-categories/pictures/arctic-sea-ice-extent-july-2011

:banghead:

n/t

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Dutch_Shell

Thank goodness if we pollute American soil we can at least take comfort in the fact that all the money will be going back overseas out of the reach of Americans. I'd hate to think we'd get anything more than a few hundred wage jobs out of this.

:sarcasm:

More dems acting as Trojan horses for industry.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4948086


LAGOS, Nigeria — Shell and Nigeria's government contributed to 50 years of pollution in a region of the Niger Delta that could need the world's largest ever oil cleanup, the United Nations said in a report Thursday, adding that the work would take up to 30 years and require an initial tab estimated at $1 billion.

The report came after Shell agreed not to oppose a move by one delta community to have their pollution claims heard by a British court, potentially opening itself up to bigger financial damages.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44015602/ns/world_news-africa/#.TjqQl7bLd3U

See? The world's largest mess. TOLD ya they had a legacy!

The worlds not going to kill itself. :nuke: