Hard to comprehend why the Obama Administration gave permission to drill
off-shore in the pristine, harsh, Arctic environment after the disaster
in the Gulf with every rescue resource available.  Thes are only the
beginning signs of what could become one of our worst environmental
disasters.  Phyllis
Approaching ice floe halts Arctic oil-drilling operation
Oil-company ice trackers had been carefully monitoring ocean ice and,
when the wind direction changed and the ice floe began moving closer,
they advised that the rig shut down and disconnect from the well, a Shell
spokeswoman said.
By Kim Murphy
Los Angeles Times
 
Only a day after Shell Alaska began drilling a landmark offshore oil well
in the Arctic, the company was forced Monday to pull off the well in the
face of an approaching ice pack.
With the ice floe about 10 miles away, the Noble Discoverer drilling rig
was disconnecting from its seafloor anchor Monday afternoon in the
Chukchi Sea, about 70 miles from the northwest coast of Alaska.
Company ice trackers had been carefully monitoring ocean ice and, when
the wind direction changed and the ice floe began moving closer, they
advised that the rig shut down and disconnect from the well, Shell
spokeswoman Kelly op de Weegh told the Los Angeles Times.
Op de Weegh said that the ice floe, 30 miles long and about 10 miles
wide, wasn't an immediate threat but that engineers elected to halt
operations as a precaution.
She said it could take several days for the ice to move and allow Shell
to resume drilling.
Shell began early Sunday plumbing the top hole of its first offshore
Arctic well in two decades, located over a large undersea oil reserve
known as the Burger prospect.
The company had hoped to launch operations much earlier in the summer but
was delayed in part by unusually large volumes of sea ice, which moved
off the coast of Alaska much later this year than in other recent
summers.
Shell has also been delayed by lingering problems with its oil-spill
containment barge, the Arctic Challenger, which has been undergoing a
complex retrofit in Bellingham.
The federal Bureau of Environmental Enforcement will not allow Shell to
drill deep enough to reach hydrocarbon deposits until the Challenger is
certified by the U.S. Coast Guard and is on-site in the Arctic.
On Monday, the barge pulled out of the dock for the first time and was
undergoing sea trials, which could take several days, op de Weegh said.

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