Arctic drilling not consistent with Obama climate change fight, report says
By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor
News and information on Shell Plc
Noel Brinkerhoff, Steve Straehley: Friday, August 14, 2015
The Obama’s administration decision to allow Royal Dutch Shell to conduct oil drilling in the Arctic Ocean has forced the U.S. Coast Guard to divert ships to the region, including one that had been deployed to catch drug smugglers in the Caribbean.
To protect both the environment and Shell’s drilling crews working in the dangerous Chukchi Sea, the Coast Guard has had to deploy five ships to the Arctic, according to Reuters. Among the ships is the Waesche, which normally patrols the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico looking for drug traffickers.
Ryan Schuessler Aug. 13, 2015
Not much has changed in Unalaska, Alaska, since Flor Luna had trouble finding a place to live when she moved here 14 years ago.
“When I first came here, I put myself on every list [for housing] there was available,” Luna recalled. Nobody ever called her back.
She wasn’t the first or the last person to struggle to find affordable housing in the town that hosts the country’s largest fishing port. Out of what she called sheer luck, Luna was eventually able to find a place to rent, but not everyone is that lucky. During peak fishing season, Unalaska’s population can sometimes triple, and there still isn’t enough space for everyone who pours into town looking for work.
Kamala Kelkar: August 13, 2015
The former chief executive of BP, who headed the company during a spate of nasty disasters including the biggest ever pipeline spill in the North Slope, warned Shell that drilling in the Arctic could hurt its reputation.
Former BP CEO Lord Browne told BBC News that he’s never been a supporter of “right-on-the-margin development” and that Arctic drilling is expensive.
Browne was head of BP in 2006, when the company pipeline spilled more than 200,000 gallons of crude oil in Prudhoe Bay resulting in a fine of $25 million. He was also in charge when a Texas City refinery exploded in 2005 and killed 15 people, and during the propane-market-manipulation case that resulted in civil and criminal penalties and a $303 million settlement.
By Jessica Shankleman | 14 Aug 2015
Green groups have stepped up pressure on Shell over its plans to drill for oil in the Arctic, with WWF leaders writing directly to the oil giant’s chief executive to express their “profound alarm” at the project.
In a letter sent on Wednesday and seen by BusinessGreen, David Nussbaum and Johan van de Gronden, chief executives of the UK and Netherlands branches of WWF, warned Shell chief executive Ben Van Beurden Arctic drilling would derail efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
By CAROLYN ADOLPH: 13 August 2015
Shell’s Polar Pioneer, briefly a resident at the Port of Seattle’s Terminal 5, is drilling for oil in the Chukchi Sea. The question is whether the rig can return to Seattle this fall — and whether it can stay the winter.
The Port of Seattle and Foss Maritime Co. are appealing a city decision to try to stop the rig. A city examiner is hearing arguments about what should happen next.
In May, the City of Seattle’s planning department threatened fines and a lawsuit when it learned the Polar Pioneer would be taking up space at a cargo terminal.