Feds give final approval to Shell’s Arctic drilling plan

The absence of the vessel had prevented authorities from allowing deep drilling to take place as the Fennica carries key safety equipment, which is designed to plug wells in the case of an emergency.

The Shell drilling has produced a split between environmental groups that have cheered President Obama for promoting renewable energy and tightening air pollution standards, and those more radical, rhetorical and nasty.

Monday’s approval of Arctic oil drilling comes a few days after the White House announced that President Obama’s upcoming visit to Alaska and the Arctic would focus on his push to fight climate change.

Federal inspectors have been living on board both of Shell’s Arctic drill rigs for the past two weeks of shallow drilling.

Shell will now be permitted to drill into oil bearing zones, but only at one of two sites at any one time due to strict environmental and safety regulations.

The approval of Shell’s drillings plans has angered environmentalists, who say the Arctic is too sensitive an ecosystem to allow oil drilling and risk a potential spill. She’s exactly right: “everything we know about risky oil drilling in the Arctic indicates it imperils a national treasure and is guaranteed to make our climate crisis worse”, said Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, in a statement.

The arrival of the equipment – a capping stack – was delayed because the safety vessel carrying it, the Fennica, was damaged and had to turn back for repairs in Portland, Oregon.

After years of accidents, Shell today (Aug. 17) received a final okay to drill for oil in the depths of the Arctic Ocean north of Alaska. They said that oil companies had not demonstrated that they could clean up a spill in water choked by ice. Consistent with regulatory requirements, a USFWS Letter of Authorization (LOA) issued on June 30 requires Shell to maintain a minimum spacing of 15 miles between active drill rigs during exploration activities to avoid significant effects on walruses in the region.

Shell final month acquired permission to start some drilling at two websites within the Chukchi Sea however was banned from digging into petroleum zones roughly eight, 000 ft under the ocean flooring.

“It’s possible we will complete a well this summer but we’re not attaching a timeline to the number of feet drilled”, Shell spokesperson Curtis Smith told the Associated Press.