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Obama’s April Fool’s Joke Approving Shell Arctic Drilling

Obama’s April Fool’s Joke Approving Shell Arctic Drilling

By John Donovan

On 1st April 2015, President Obama’s administration upheld a 2008 lease sale facilitating Shell’s return to oil and gas drilling off Alaska.

See this Reuters Report: Here’s why Obama is approving Artic Drilling again

This decision despite Shell’s farcical exploits in 2012.  Many readers will recall that a Shell hired drilling rig – a rusty ancient vessel – ran aground after Shell sent it to sea despite a storm warning.

The reckless move was made in an attempt to evade taxes. Shell admitted, then denied, then admitted, that this was the case.

Shell VP David Lawrence (of Alaska) was forced to resign.

Then U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Ken Salazar did not mince his words. He rightly described Shell’s conduct as being “screwed up”.

Nonetheless, Shell got the go-ahead to gamble again.

In a co-ordinated move with Canada, days before he vacates the presidency, Obama made the surprising announcement yesterday of “a permanent ban on offshore oil and gas drilling along wide areas of the Arctic”.

See: Obama Bans Drilling in Parts of the Atlantic and the Arctic

I can only conclude that the 2015 announcement must have been an April’s Fools joke.

What else could explain the volte-face?

This website and sisters royaldutchshellgroup.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

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