Shell’s Polar Pioneer drilling ship and the tow ship Aiviq at Terminal 5. Shell is preparing its equipment for oil exploration in the Alaskan Arctic.05/17/2015. Captions and Photo source: © Greenpeace
Excerpts;
President Barack Obama on Tuesday designated the bulk of U.S.-owned waters in the Arctic Ocean and certain areas in the Atlantic Ocean as indefinitely off limits to future oil and gas leasing…
Read Full Article, US & World Report News (12-20-2016)
Eyeing Trump, Obama takes new action to ban Arctic drilling; CNN (12-20-2016)
Obama relied on a 63-year-old law to make his moves, which will prevent future leasing of certain offshore areas for oil rights. His successor, Donald Trump, who has promised a policy allowing more US energy production, would face legal challenges if he attempted to reverse Obama’s order…
Drilling Will Cost the Arctic its Wildness, Adventure Journal (12-12-2013)
Why Would Royal Dutch Shell Abandon the Arctic? (Video) (02-08-2014)
Geologists estimate that the Arctic holds more than 20 percent of the planet’s oil and gas resources. Alaska’s waters alone may contain 24 billion barrels of oil. That’s about three-and-a-half years of U.S. oil consumption. “…The less oil people use, whether by improving efficiency or finding alternatives, the less Shell will be inclined to chase down every last drop at the literal ends of the earth…”
U.S. Blocks Oil, Gas Drilling in Atlantic Coastal Waters, Climate Central (03-15-2016)
Estimates of offshore drilling’s benefits exaggerated, report says, The Virginian Pilot (12-15-2015)
A report released in December, and prepared for the Southern Environmental Law Center, contends that the potential economic benefits, as cited in a prior report released in 2013 by the American Petroleum Institute, have been exaggerated and don’t take into account the potential loss of jobs in tourism, commercial fishing and other business sectors…
Why U.S. East Coast Should Stay Off-Limits to Oil Drilling, Yale E360 (02-28-2015)
It’s not just the potential for a catastrophic spill that makes the new proposal to open Atlantic Ocean waters to oil exploration such a bad idea. What’s worse is the cumulative impact on coastal ecosystems that an active oil industry would bring…
