Earlier this afternoon
I received an email from Greenpeace that stated (very excitedly) that today,
Shell (Royal
Dutch Shell PLC) announced that it is giving up on its plans to drill for oil in the
Alaskan Arctic in 2013.
According to the
Washington Post, Shell’s president, Marvin Odum described the decision not to
conduct exploratory drilling in the Chukchi and Beafort Seas in a statement as a “pause.”
“We’ve made progress in
Alaska, but this is a long-term program that we are pursuing in a safe and
measured way,” Odum said. “Our decision to pause in 2013 will give us time to
ensure the readiness of all our equipment and people following the drilling
season in 2012.”
The
Chukchi Sea is bounded on the west by the De Long Strait, off Wrangel Island, and in the east by Point Barrow, Alaska, beyond which lies the Beaufort Sea. The Bering Strait forms its southernmost limit
and connects it to the Bering Sea
and the Pacific Ocean. It is only navigable about four months of the
year.
The
Los Angeles Times stated today that the decision followed
a series of weather problems and mechanical mishaps that prevented the company
from drilling anything but “top holes” during the 2012 debut season — never
reaching oil deposits. Then on the way south from the Arctic, the conical
drilling rig that was the centerpiece of Shell’s operations in the Beaufort
Sea, the Kulluk, grounded on a small island near Kodiak in heavy seas after its
powerful tow vessel inexplicably lost power.
On an article posted
on Saturday, February 23rd on www.truth-out.org, the Coast Guard
found 16 violations on the Noble Discoverer, one of Shell’s two drilling rigs
for Alaska’s Arctic waters.
Details of the Noble Discoverer’s violations were obtained by Democratic
staff of the House Natural Resources Committee, which had asked the Coast Guard
for an accounting of inspections that took place on the rig at the end of
November.
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