Shell Arctic drilling slowdown

This video is called Stop Shell from Drilling Off the Coast of the Arctic Refuge.

From Associated Press:

Shell Oil scales back Arctic drilling plan, now looking at 2 wells for 2012

July 31

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Shell Oil Co. is downsizing its plan for off-shore drilling in the Arctic this year amid delays completing a spill containment barge required by the federal government, a spokesman said Tuesday.

Shell now hopes to complete two wells in 2012 instead of five. One would be in the Beaufort Sea off the northern Alaska coastline, and the other in the Chukchi Sea off the northwest coast between Alaska and Russia.

The company’s ambitious two-year goal of drilling 10 wells remains in place, company spokesman Curtis Smith said.

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Smith attributed the downscaling to delays in building and gaining certification of the containment barge in Bellingham, Wash.

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Environmental and Alaska Native groups are challenging the permit, claiming the drill ship and support vessels will pollute the air and worsen Arctic warming.

Update 1 March 2013: here.

How to Bring the Major Oil Companies Ashore and Halt the Destruction of Our Oceans. Subhankar Banerjee, TomDispatch: “Shell is getting ready to drill for oil in the Arctic Ocean, an ecosystem staggeringly rich in life of every sort, and while it’s not yet quite a done deal, the prospect should certainly focus our minds. But first, it’s worth reminding ourselves of the mind-boggling richness of the life still in our oceans”: here.

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