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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFeds Allow Shell to Drill for Oil in Arctic Ocean off Alaska
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/feds-shell-drill-oil-arctic-ocean-off-alaska-33139315The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement announced that it approved the permit to drill below the ocean floor after the oil giant brought in a required piece of equipment to stop a possible well blowout.
The agency previously allowed Shell to begin drilling only the top sections of two wells in the Chukchi Sea because the key equipment, called a capping stack, was stuck on a vessel that needed repair in Portland, Oregon....
Environmental groups oppose Arctic offshore drilling, saying industrial activity will harm polar bears, Pacific walrus, ice seals and threatened whales already vulnerable from climate warming and shrinking summer sea ice. They say oil companies have not demonstrated that they can clean up a spill in water choked by ice.
Matariki
(18,775 posts)0rganism
(23,958 posts)we're still on the upside of the exponential demand curve for oil
between that and the requirements for the downside of the curve (assuming we want to go there smoothly and comfortably) we have to get it all.
all of it.
that means arctic oil, antarctic oil, tar sands, shale, everything.
we're going to refine it and burn it. all of it. even when it costs $50000/barrel.
and then we'll stop.
whatever damage this will cause will have been triggered and set in motion a long time before that.
it makes no difference to humanity. we're going to use it all. bet on it.
i hope, for humanity's sake, that we find an agricultural alternative to converting fossil fuel into food before we hit peak oil.
Hydra
(14,459 posts)But the people making money off it won't let us kick the addiction.
I'm so tired of dirty energy always winning the fight.
Mnemosyne
(21,363 posts)What could possibly go wrong?
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)I thought there was a treaty banning mineral extraction from the Antarctic even by the several countries that maintain territorial claims there.
0rganism
(23,958 posts)that particular treaty will last until we've run out of enough other sources that it becomes cost-effective to extract from the Antarctic. once that happens, watch how fast the treaty goes away.
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)especially the Antarctic Peninsula that sticks up toward Chile and Argentina and is claimed by both.
burrowowl
(17,641 posts)Blue_In_AK
(46,436 posts)But apparently the fix is in.
hatrack
(59,587 posts).