Salazar Announces Post 2012 Offshore Arctic Drilling, But Promises To Be Really, Really Careful

[hatrack]

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar's announcement about a "cautious" approach to offshore oil development opens the door to leasing new waters in the Arctic after 2012 and clears the way for full review of a proposed new exploratory well in the Beaufort Sea as early as next summer. The proposal has been greeted with cheers by many in Alaska who've been waiting to move into the new offshore frontier of the Far North, but conservationists warned that more studies should have been done before including the Arctic in the administration's 2012-17 Outer Continental Shelf leasing plan.

“It is disturbing that Interior proposes to evaluate including the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas in the 2012-2017 five-year plan, despite a severe lack of information and an inability to clean up oil spills in Arctic conditions,” a coalition of the nation’s biggest environmental organizations said in a statement.

“We will proceed with utmost caution,” Salazar said, adding that “cautious, limited exploratory activities” can help improve scientific understanding of the remote, little-known region. He said no new leases would be offered before 2013, and even then, they would proceed only after comprehensive studies of environmental impacts and oil spill cleanup capabilities.

In one of the most closely watched developments, Officials also said they were proceeding with a final
environmental assessment for Shell Oil’s proposal to drill at least one exploratory well in the Beaufort Sea as early as next summer, which would be the first substantial new drilling in U.S. Arctic waters in many years. That announcement was applauded by Shell, whose more ambitious program to drill several wells in both the Beaufort and Chukchi seas has been held up in the courts by conservation and Native Alaska groups concerned that oil operations in one of the world’s most fragile environments could lead to disaster.

EDIT

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2010/12/alaska-arctic-offshore-oil.html

[aquart]

1. Buh bye polar bears.

[joeybee12]

2. Another reason Obama needs a primary challenge...a STRONG one! knr

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. There are no words for my rage. NONE.

[pscot]

4. Well, as long as they promise

to be extra careful.