The tests never stop coming for the Obama Administration.
Shell Oil is ready to bring glorious prosperity to American shores just like BP did just over one year ago. And right now there is still a chance that Obama might give them the green light.
http://www.nytimes.com/...
Whatever the administration decides, it will anger somebody. “If the Obama administration approves drilling in the Arctic, it will demonstrate that they have learned nothing from the gulf spill”
And more than that. It would show that reducing our need for oil is not priority #1 as it should be.
We cannot drill our way out of this problem. Drilling IS the problem.
Note:
I can finally read a few links on the damn NYTimes website again; I will get my money's worth this time. Checking sports scores counts as "reading a story" under their dumbass new policy. D'oh! It has been a boon for SFGate, LATimes, and WaPo's websites, I tell ya.
“Americans are reeling from staggering prices at the pump,” said Representative Cory Gardner, a Colorado Republican on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. “So the president has to justify to the American people why we are not replacing Saudi Arabian oil imports with U.S.-produced oil.”
Ah, yes. The ole "relief at the pump" canard.
Except, anyone with half a brain can read the facts and learn it is total BS. No immediate relief at any pumps will come from this project. None.
Shell has already spent $3.7 billion on the 10-year offshore leases and preparations for exploration, although the company has yet to drill a single hole. Shell will formally present its new proposal — to drill up to 10 wells over the next two years in remote waters north of Alaska, in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas — in the next few days. If the plan is approved within nine months or so, exploration could begin next year.
Sooo...next year they can BEGIN to explore, which is what they were doing when BP fucked the Gulf.
And IF they find massive reserves of oil, they can begin sending refined fuel down to the lower 48...when exactly? Maybe by 2013-ish? Golly, I can't wait to rev up the Hummer 2 years from now thanks to fucking the Arctic.
Oops...maybe not.
Reading more...
The Alaskan Arctic potentially holds 27 billion barrels of oil.
...
Major production from the Arctic would probably be a decade away, however.
Wait, what?
But I needs me some cheap ass oil like yesterday!
That Iraqi oil should be coming to save the day any minute, right? RIGHT?
I just know we can end our addiction to oil by drilling lots and lots more new oil wells in the most dangerous places on Earth.
Greenpeace has a diff't take. Shocking, I know. (pdf)
The Arctic waters of Alaska’s Chukchi and Beaufort seas are home to Arctic wildlife such as polar bears, walrus, ice seals and whales, species already under threat as global warming causes their sea ice habitat to melt away. Alaska Native communities have relied on coastal resources for their culture and subsistence for millenia, putting them at ground zero if an oil spill takes place.
The Arctic waters of the Chukchi and Beaufort sea are a national treasure and should not be sacrificed to quelch the country’s thirst for oil. The US consumes about 25% of the world’s oil yet has only three percent of its supply. The US will never satisfy its thirst for oil, even if it drills every last drop of oil from all coastal waters. Given the threats of sea ice loss and ocean acidification, the Chukchi and Beaufort seas as well as the entire Arctic Ocean should be off-limits to oil drilling to allow the wildlife and people who live there the best possibility of adapting and surviving.
However, if you believe the morons at RedState, the EPA has already "killed" Shell’s plans to ruin the Arctic.
Guess the NYTimes should have called the wingnuts before posting their story.
At best there might be a few pennies of "relief at the pump" in 10 years. But we know by now oil companies never pass the "savings" along to us anyways. It would merely mean more profit for them.
We must stop the insanity.
Keep the pressure on the Obama Administration to protect our shores.
ACTION
Contact the White House and tell them that our nation cannot afford another BP Oil Disaster.
Comments: 202-456-1111.
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
Feel free to use the section from Greenpeace quoted above for your comments.
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Recently, the Democratic Senator from AK said the "time might be ripe to drill," of his state's shores. Because of this, Credo has an online petition to remind Mark Begich of what happened in the Gulf one year ago.
http://act.credoaction.com/...
The petition reads:
"The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Chukchi and Beaufort seas are precious areas, and opening them to drilling won't reduce oil prices. Protect irreplaceable Alaskan wilderness, don't imperil it by promoting dangerous oil drilling."