Approximate site of preliminarily approved drilling by Shell. Pink outline is the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). Image made with Google Earth.
Following the Obama administration’s approval of Royal Dutch Shell to drill in the Arctic’s Beaufort Sea, a wide-swathe of environmental have filed a lawsuit to stop the drilling, which could begin as early as next summer. Those filing the lawsuit today blasted Shell for what they perceived as a pathetic oil spill response plan, and the Obama administration for acquiescing to the big oil company.
“If you liked the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, you will love Shell’s plan for Alaska,” said Mike Daulton with the National Audubon Society, one of the plaintiffs, in a press release. “Shell has never demonstrated the ability to effectively clean up a large oil spill in the Arctic Ocean. In addition to the usual problems handling a major spill, Alaska has huge ocean waves, gale force winds and widespread sea ice. A major oil spill in Alaska would be Deepwater Horizon meets the Titanic.”
However, Curtis Smith, a spokesperson with Shell Alaska, told the Associated Press that the company could handle an oil spill in the Arctic.
“We feel we have put in place the most technically sound, environmentally sensitive plan of exploration in the history of North America. Our confidence in making a statement like that is informed by our history in Alaska, the planning we have done, the unprecedented oil response plan, and the addition of a capping and containment system very much like the one that ultimately ended the blowout in the Gulf of Mexico,” he said.
Shell’s plan, in which it has already invested 3.5 billion, is to begin exploratory drilling offshore just north of the western edge of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in the Beaufort Sea, home to bowhead and beluga whales, seals, walruses, polar bears, and a wide variety of migrating birds.
In July Admiral Robert Papp, top officer with the US Coast Guard, said that if a spill occurred in the area, the Coast Guard lacked the infrastructure and equipment needed to deal with it.
“If this were to happen off the North Slope of Alaska, we’d have nothing,” said Papp, as reported by Platts. “We’re starting from ground zero today.”
Along with environmental groups, local indigenous groups have also come out against Shell’s plan.
“We have a right to life, to physical integrity, to security, and the right to enjoy the benefits of our culture. For this, we will fight, and this is why we have gone to court today. Our culture can never be bought or repaired with money. It is priceless,” Caroline Cannon, president of the Native Village of Point Hope, said in a press release.
Just over a year since the Deepwater oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the Obama administration has been quietly opening up offshore drilling again along the US’s coastlines. The US consumes more oil than any other country in the world, and has long focused on raising production (the Obama administration has raised production significantly), instead of increasing efficiency and lowering consumption overall. Now, rapidly melting summer ice due to climate change is opening up long-closed off areas—sea ice this summer was the second lowest on record— of the Arctic and providing the US and other nations with a new source of oil. However, many environmentalists warn that the Arctic melt should be seen as a warning of global dependence on fossil fuels and not an opportunity to burn more, thereby exacerbating the warming that is already overturning the Arctic’s fragile ecosystems.
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