EDITORIAL
A version of this editorial appeared in print on August 9, 2011, on page A22 of the New York edition
The Obama administrations decision on Thursday to give conditional approval to Royal Dutch Shells plans to begin drilling four shallow-water wells in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska alarmed many environmentalists. Cleaning up an oil spill in the frigid, turbulent waters of the Arctic Ocean is likely to be far more complicated than it was in the comparatively benign waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
We have misgivings about this plan for just that reason. But President Obama, who indicated last year that he would honor Shells leases if it passed various environmental reviews, seems determined to proceed. The administration should require that Shell meet basic safeguards before it receives final permits to begin punching holes in the ocean floor.
The most important safeguard, spelled out in an Aug. 4 letter from the Department of the Interior, is that Shell demonstrate the capacity to quickly contain a blowout not with skimmers, relief wells or other surface equipment, all of which Shell promises at the source. Perhaps the most shocking discovery in the gulf disaster is that nobody, federal regulators included, knew how to contain the leak once the blowout preventer failed. The result was a devastating 86-day gusher.
It will presumably be easier to plug a leak at 160 feet the average depth of Shells projected wells than it was at 5,000 feet. But any well drilled below the ocean surface will generate great pressure, with the risk of a blowout. Shells celebratory press release Thursday said it remains committed to fabricating an oil spill capping system. Thats much too vague. Ken Salazar, who as the interior secretary is responsible for giving the final go-ahead, must insist on a functioning capping system.
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
