Earlier this month, Shell Oil received the go-ahead from the Bureau of
Ocean Energy Management to proceed with its multi-year drilling plan in
the Arctic Ocean. It still needs permits from the federal Bureau of
Safety and Environmental Enforcement and authorizations related to
wastewater discharge from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. These
agencies should refuse to issue these permits, based on the abysmal
performance that Shell demonstrated in 2012 when it encountered rough
seas which grounded a drilling rig and was fined $12.1 million for
breaking maritime law. And this was in the waters in the Gulf of Alaska,
a thousand miles from the rougher Arctic Ocean where it wants to set up
test wells this summer.
Here’s what’s at stake should drilling take place — a fragile ecosystem
that is already on the brink due to pressures from the fastest rate of
warming on the planet. The sea ice is getting thinner and less extensive
year by year, and an oil spill in the area could spell disaster for the
wildlife that rely on this shrinking world of ice. With CO2
concentrations already at record levels there is no amount of oil that
justifies taking such risks. The EPA should live up to its name and
protect the environment.
— Karen Tigges, Des Moines

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