President Obama's legacy has arguably suffered another dent with his administration's recent decision allowing Shell Gulf of Mexico Inc. to start drilling for oil off the icy waters of the Arctic known as the Chukchi Sea, reports confirmed.
"After a comprehensive review and consideration of comments received from the public, stakeholders, and Federal and state partner agencies and tribes, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) today conditionally approved Shell's revised multi-year Exploration Plan (EP) for the Chukchi Sea," the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) said in a statement.
"As we move forward, any offshore exploratory activities will continue to be subject to rigorous safety standards," BOEM Director Abigail Ross Hopper said, adding that Shell also needs state and federal drilling permits for the project, including permits from the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement and authorizations under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
Environmentalists are quite disappointed with the recent decision by the Interior Department, which runs counter the ambitious environmental agenda that President Obama pushed during his campaign, according to the New York Times.
The decision of the Interior Department will allow drilling for oil only during the summer and in shallow waters, the Times reported, but this would still pose a very big risk to the environment and industry experts would agree that the Chukchi Sea is one of the most difficult and dangerous places to drill.
This is aside from its inaccessibility due to the lack of infrastructure that could turn an accident into a devastating mess in the Arctic Ocean, known for its treacherous landscape, Bloomberg said in a related report.
Environmentalists say that any accidents at the Chukchi Sea could be deadlier than the Gulf of Mexico spill of 2010, when the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion killed 11 men and sent millions of barrels of oil spewing into the water.
Erik Grafe, an attorney for environment advocacy group Earthjustice, said in a statement to the Associated Press that the Interior Department's "decision puts big oil before people, putting the Arctic's iconic wildlife and the health of our planet on the line."
Other groups are set to conduct a "festival of resistance" starting on Saturday which included protesters on land and in kayaks in order to limit the ship's movements, according to the Associated Press.
"The agency should not be approving such threatening plans based on a rushed and incomplete environmental and safety review. Ultimately, Arctic Ocean drilling is far too risky and undermines the administration's efforts to address climate change and transition to a clean energy future," Grafe told the publication.
