Publication Name
Los Angeles Times
Author(s)
Kim Murphy
One of the last significant hurdles to offshore oil drilling in the Arctic has been cleared with approval of a plan for dealing with a nightmare scenario — an oil spill at the top of the world.
The Obama administration on Friday approved Shell Gulf of Mexico Inc.'s plan for responding to an accident should it occur in the Chukchi Sea. The company hopes to begin exploratory drilling there, 70 miles off the northwest coast of Alaska, in June.
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“This is a premature decision,” Marilyn Heiman, director of the U.S. Arctic program for the Pew Environment Group, said in an email to the Los Angeles Times.
She said the plan should, but doesn’t, include an adequate plan for protecting the shoreline and feeding areas for migrating bowhead whales and other species in the event of a spill.
“Ideally, they need two to three more years to really do this safely -- to get the science right, to protect wildlife areas and to get equipment that's been designed for and tested in the Arctic,” Heiman said.
Read the full article, Oil Drilling In Arctic Nears Reality: Shell Emergency Plan OKd, on the Los Angeles Times website.
