The Obama administration gave the greenlight to Shell for their oil drilling operations in the Arctic Ocean, reported Salon. This decision puts a giant dent in Obama’s environmental legacy, and it makes him a hypocrite.
Shell has already drilled 3,000 feet into the Arctic seafloor, but the modified permit issued by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement now allows the company to begin deeper drilling.
“Now that the required well control system is in place and can be deployed, Shell will be allowed to explore into oil-bearing zones for Burger J [an oil well],” said BSEE director Brian Salerno. He added that the drilling is “being held to the highest safety, environmental protection, and emergency response standards.”
BP promised those same exact standards, but look what happened in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. The Deepwater Horizon spill was a complete disaster, and its effects are still being felt by the gulf coast. If an oil spill occurred in the Arctic, the harsh conditions there would make clean-up efforts nearly impossible. Arctic drilling is a serious environmental risk.
Ann Pickard of Shell’s Arctic Division said if the company didn’t find oil that she “would probably recommend that we walk away.” However, if they do find oil, then that would open up endless possibilities of an unmanageable environmental disaster. The blame would fall solely on President Obama and his bogus environmental legacy.
