When your Offshore Oil Rig runs aground due to high seas in the Arctic winter, you just might have a problem in your Climate Change Mitigation Plans ...
Problems prompt federal review of Arctic drilling operations
by Kim Murphy, LATimes.com -- Jan 8, 2013
After a series of problems plagued the debut of offshore oil drilling in the U.S. Arctic, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar Tuesday ordered a high-level, expedited review of oil operations in Alaskan waters aimed at achieving “safe and responsible exploration for energy resources in the Arctic.”
The review, scheduled to be completed over the next 60 days before a new round of drilling in the summer, could prompt additional regulatory examination of Shell Alaska’s operations in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, the most promising and controversial of America’s new oil frontiers.
“Exploration allows us to better comprehend the true scope of our resources in the Arctic and to more fully understand the nature of the risks and benefits of development in this region, but we also recognize that the unique challenges posed by the Arctic environment demand an even higher level of scrutiny,” Salazar said in a statement announcing the review, which will be undertaken by federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management director Tommy Beaudreau.
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In related news, don't say no one warned you that tapping the arctic ocean like this was kind of dumb.
61 Members of Congress Urge DOI to Defer Arctic Ocean Leasing
Natural Resources Defense Council -- August 17, 2012
This week, 61 members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to the Department of the Interior’s Secretary Ken Salazar urging protection of America’s Arctic Ocean from hasty oil and gas development.
On the one hand, the letter praises BOEM’s decision to not allow oil and gas development in the Atlantic, Pacific or North Aleutian Basin due to concerns of lack of infrastructure and oil spill preparedness. On the other, the house members correctly note that this logic was not followed in the decision to permit lease sales in the remote and weather-prone Arctic Ocean:
The Arctic Ocean is characterized by hurricane-force storms, 20-foot swells, sea ice up to 25 feet thick, sup-zero temperatures and months-long darkness. What’s more, the Arctic has extremely limited infrastructure (there are no roads or deep water ports and only a handful of small airports), and the nearest Coast Guard station is 1,000 miles away.
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Hmmmm? I wonder
what could go wrong with this story-line?
[ U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Jonathan Klingenberg
-- Popular Mechanics ]
And who stands to benefit in the billions from these brand new Arctic Adventures?
Will anyone show up for NPR-A lease sale?
by Mia Bennett, AlaskaDispatch.com -- Nov 05, 2012
ANALYSIS: The U.S. Department of the Interior recently announced that the Bureau of Land Management will issue leases for 4.5 million acres of land in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska for oil and gas development.
The lease sale, set for Wednesday, will add to the 3 million acres offered up in the same area last December. Of that amount, 120,000 acres were leased through 17 bids. The main lease purchasers were ConocoPhillips and a company called 70 & 148 LLC, named after the latitude and longitude of Prudhoe Bay.
70 & 148 is an affiliate of Armstrong Oil and Gas, a little-known company in the world of giant multinationals like Shell, BP, and Exxon Mobil.
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And who stands to benefit? Just "70 & 148" standing in line for the new Arctic leases?
AKA, just the usual suspects ... getting in line for their usual corporate entitlements.
Dangers of Arctic drilling dramatized: Shell's oil rig remains stranded (Video)
by Amy Lou Jenkins, examiner.com -- January 6, 2013
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The Kulluk broke from its towlines. Responders have been working in 30-foot waves and gale-force winds for several days to regain control of the rig, which was on its way to Seattle for repairs after preparatory drilling for Shell’s oil exploration in the Beaufort Sea.
“It boggles the mind that the Obama administration approved Shell’s drilling plans for the Arctic Ocean when it’s so clear that harsh environment is just too dangerous for drilling. The storm that sent the Kulluk adrift isn’t unusual in Alaska. An oil spill in the Arctic would be devastating to wildlife and would risk human lives. It’s a recipe for disaster. I hope the president will come to his senses and save the Arctic from oil drilling,” said McDonnell [Deirdre McDonnell, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity.]
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Wasn't the lesson the BP offshore oil spill disaster,
dreadful enough?
Do we really want to go there again? To re-learn the lessons of Big Oil's non-existent Safety Plans?
In a place where the biological breakdown of any oil spill would take place at a glacially slower pace, than it does in the warm, warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
This situation is so thick in irony -- that it will take a greater mind than mine, to adequately capture it. Good Luck!