Eye Recommend --- Shell's Record Adds to the Anger of Those Opposing Arctic Drilling

SHELL'S RECORD ADDS TO THE ANGER OF THOSE OPPOSING ARCTIC DRILLING, by John Schwartz and Clifford Kraus --
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/13/us/shells-record-adds-to-the-anger-of-those-opposing-arctic-drilling.html?_r=0

The rig Shell hopes to use in the Arctic this year.

what eye thynk:  President Obama got this one wrong--really, really wrong.

(Any underlines are mine.) 

"When the Obama administration announced on Monday that it would let Shell drill for oil off the Alaskan coast this year if it met certain conditions, environmentalists were outraged--not just by the administration's decision to allow drilling, but by its decision to give shell, in particular, the green light. 

They said that the company's track record in the Arctic should rule out another chance for it.  Shell tried to drill in the Arctic in 2012, and the company's multibillion-dollar drilling rig, the Kulluk, ran aground.  The operator of a drill ship hired by Shell also pleaded guilty to eight felony offenses and agreed to pay $12.2 million over shoddy record-keeping that covered up hazardous conditions and jury-rigged equipment that discharged polluted water.

All those violations occurred at shallow water drilling sites.  At that time, Shell was prohibited from drilling in deep water after a containment dome that was supposed to cap a runaway well was destroyed in testing.

'Shell has already proven itself not up to the challenge of development in the Arctic Ocean.' said Franz Matzner, the director of the Beyond Oil Initiative at the Natural Resources Defense Council. 'But it's not just Shell.  The fact is, there's no safe way to pursue oil exploration in the frozen wastes of the Arctic Ocean.'"

Even other oil companies agree that this is a bad idea.

"'It's too complicated,' Claudio Descalzi, the chief executive of the Italian oil company Eni, said in a recent interview.  The company allowed its lease in Alaska's Chukchi Sea to expire without drilling,

'Everything that is too complicated is too expensive and too risky--and my job is to reduce risk.'...

...After Shell's problems, ConocoPhillips and the Norwegian oil giant Statoil suspended their Alaskan Arctic drilling plans...

...Experts warn that Arctic Ocean oil exploration involves high costs and enormous risks.  An Arctic oil spill would have none of the conditions that helped mitigate effects of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill, including warm water, sunlight, relatively calm weather and ready access to cleanup and rescue equipment."

"(Mr. Matzner) added, 'This is an inexplicable decision to do something that is dirty, dangerous and unnecessary.'"

Exactly.