By Steven Mufson, Published: March 14
Environmental groups harshly criticized the report and said it raised questions about the department’s ability to conduct independent regulatory oversight.
“Exploration in the Arctic is a key component of the President’s all-of-the-above energy strategy, and is important to our understanding of the oil and gas potential in this frontier region,” Salazar said after the completion of a 60-day review by the department that recommended companies follow “Arctic specific” standards.Shell has already announced a “pause” in its drilling plans after a series of delays and mishaps culminating in its rig, the Kulluk, getting damaged in a storm when it ran aground on its way to port.
Shell has spent nearly $5 billion and several years preparing to drill for oil in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska’s Arctic coast. Harsh weather limits the drilling season there to about three or four months and Shell’s plans were delayed both by its trouble getting federal approval of its containment system and by an unusually late ice season. Eventually the company pared back its plans and instead of completing two to six exploration wells it installed blowout preventers on the top of partially drilled wells.