Thanks for the great news, Phyllis, and thank you and Karen and Pat for all
your years of efforts on these issues.
Jane Clark
From: Iowa Discussion, Alerts and Announcements
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Phyllis Mains
Sent: Monday, September 28, 2015 6:59 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Shell out of Arctic Drilling!!! sometimes we win
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Royal Dutch Shell will cease exploration in Arctic
waters off Alaska's coast following disappointing results from an
exploratory well backed by billions in investment and years of work.
The announcement was a huge blow to Shell, which was counting on offshore
drilling in Alaska to help it drive future revenue. Environmentalists,
however, had tried repeatedly to block the project and welcomed the news.
Shell has spent upward of $7 billion on Arctic offshore exploration,
including $2.1 billion in 2008 for leases in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's
northwest coast, where an exploratory well about 80 miles off shore drilled
to 6,800 feet but yielded disappointing results. Backed by a 28-vessel
flotilla, drillers found indications of oil and gas but not in sufficient
quantities to warrant more exploration at the site.
"Shell continues to see important exploration potential in the basin, and
the area is likely to ultimately be of strategic importance to Alaska and
the U.S.," Marvin Odum, president of Shell USA, said in The Hague,
Netherlands. "However, this is a clearly disappointing exploration outcome
for this part of the basin."
eable future," the company said, because of the well results and because of
the "challenging and unpredictable federal regulatory environment in
offshore Alaska.
Margaret Williams of the World Wildlife Fund in Anchorage, called the news
stunning.
"That's incredible. That's huge," she said. "All along the conservation
community has been pointing to the challenging and unpredictable
environmental conditions. We always thought the risk was tremendously
great."
Environmental groups said oil exploration in the ecologically fragile Arctic
could lead to increased greenhouse gases, crude oil spills and a disaster
for polar bears, walrus and ice seals. Production rigs extracting oil would
be subject to punishing storms, shifting ice and months of operating in the
cold and dark. Over the summer, protesters in kayaks unsuccessfully tried to
block Arctic-bound Shell vessels in Seattle and Portland, Oregon.
"Polar bears, Alaska's Arctic and our climate just caught a huge break,"
said Miyoko Sakashita, oceans program director for the Center for Biological
Diversity, in a statement. "Here's hoping Shell leaves the Arctic forever."
Monday was Shell's final day to drill this year in petroleum-bearing rock
under its federal permit. Regulators required Shell to stop a month before
sea ice is expected to re-form in the lease area.
The U.S. Geological Survey estimates U.S. Arctic waters in the Chukchi and
Beaufort seas contain 26 billion barrels or more of recoverable oil in
total. Shell officials had called the Chukchi basin "a potential
game-changer," a vast untapped reservoir that could add to America's energy
supply for 50 years.
Shell had planned at least one more year of exploration with up to six wells
drilled.
A transition to production could have taken a decade or longer.
Shell had the strong backing of Alaska officials and business leaders who
want a new source of crude oil filling the trans-Alaska pipeline, now
running at less than one-quarter capacity.
Charles Ebinger, senior fellow for the Brookings Institution Energy Security
and Climate Initiative, said in an interview that a successful well by Shell
would have been "a terribly big deal," opening an area that U.S. officials
say contains 15 billion barrels of oil.
While oil prices have dropped significantly in recent years and nations have
pushed for cleaner energy sources, analysts predict that the world between
2030 and 2040 will need another 10 million barrels a day to meet growing
demand, especially in developing countries, Ebinger said.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
To unsubscribe from the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to:
[log in to unmask]
Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information:
http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp
To view the Sierra Club List Terms & Conditions, see:
http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/terms.asp
|
