The ongoing Gulf disaster has rendered the future of offshore drilling in this country uncertain.  Nowhere is an immediate evaluation into the practices and realities of offshore oil development more urgent than in the Arctic Ocean. 

Below is information about the dangerous offshore development that is imminent in the Arctic.   

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This week, Shell Oil’s 514-foot long drill ship will leave port and start its long journey to the Arctic’s Chukchi Sea. Soon after, it will be joined by a few support vessels and aircraft that will make up this summer’s drilling team in these pristine waters where the nearest boat dock is 250 miles away. On July 1, this team is slated to begin an operation that will pursue the same purpose as the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico – exploratory drilling.

The drilling plans for the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas in the Arctic are plagued with many of the same deficiencies that were recently exposed in the Gulf plans. Moreover, the response capacity in the Arctic is only a fraction of that which is currently failing in the Gulf.  Also, the environment of the Arctic is much harsher and less understood than off the coast of Louisiana. 

A few key facts:

·         As of today, Arctic drilling activity could take place between July and October (when freeze up begins).

·         Like BP’s exploration plan for the Deepwater Horizon well, Shell has not planned for a catastrophic blowout occurrence during exploration in the Beaufort or Chukchi Seas

o        For example, in its exploration plan, Shell states (pg. 160), “a large oil spill, such as a crude oil release from a blowout, is extremely rare and not considered a reasonably foreseeable impact.”

·         Drilling in the Arctic will take place in shallow water, around 130 – 325 feet deep.  In 2007, MMS issued a report in which they concluded that shallow water blowouts are the most common.  In fact in the period studied, 19 of the 39 blowouts occurred in shallow water depths of 0 – 200 feet. 

·         During the proposed drilling period there are storms that can last for days producing up to 20 ft. seas and sustained wind speeds of 33+ knots.

o        Shell identified operating limits for spill response in their contingency plan, for example, stating “[w] inds above 15 knots with 30 knot gusts are strong enough to make hoists and lifts unsafe…”

o        Mechanical clean up was halted in 8 foot sees in the Gulf.

·         In its drilling contingency plan Shell assumes that if a blowout were to occur, the drill rig would be unharmed and would be able to engage in spill prevention measures and, if necessary, drill a relief well.  In both the Timor Sea Montara blowout and the ongoing Gulf of Mexico blowout, however, the rig was burned and/or sunk and not able to engage in any spill prevention measures. Futhermore, to date Shell has not met MMS's requirement to identify an alternative rig that could drill a relief well, and there is no quality rig anywhere in the area.

·         The US Coast Guard has testified to a Senate subcommittee and made numerous statements that they lack the capacity to respond to a spill in the Arctic.

·         MMS’s 5 year OCS drilling program, which allowed the proposed Chukchi exploration, was deemed illegal in April of 2009 by the DC Circuit Court which held MMS provided an “irrational” analysis of the environmental sensitivity of the proposed development area.  The court has not made a final ruling on the revised version of this plan.

• MMS must acknowledge the risk and potential impacts of a blowout by completing a full Environment Impact Statement (EIS).  A full EIS would also permit MMS to address the significant gaps in the Alaska MMS’s NEPA processes that were recently detailed by the Government Accountability Office.
• MMS must remedy the serious oil spill response limitations that exist in the Arctic. 
• MMS must fill in critical gaps in knowledge about the Arctic ecosystem – including information as basic as wildlife population baselines.   

In light of the current crisis, the Obama administration must act now to cancel all plans for offshore drilling this summer and until they can provide a more rational basis for determining when, where and if development may be appropriate. 

Please ask Congressman Boswell to ask questions during the upcoming Hearing as to the risks in our Arctic Ocean from Shell's exploratory drilling.