Op-ed: Climate Crisis? Obama Administration OKs Shell's Arctic Drilling

Center for Biological Diversity
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org
Endangered Earth

Climate Crisis? Obama Administration OKs Shell's Arctic Drilling

Very troubling news for the Arctic and the climate crisis: The Obama administration on Wednesday gave Shell the last permit it needs to begin dangerous oil drilling in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska this summer. Not only will this decision put polar bears and other wildlife at direct risk from an oil spill, but it'll push the planet deeper into the rapidly unfolding climate crisis.

Shell's first attempt to explore for oil in the Arctic Ocean ended with the embarrassing grounding of its drillship in 2012 and the Coast Guard's discovery of 16 significant safety violations on its drill rig. The Obama administration has admitted there's a 75 percent chance of one or more large oil spills in the Chukchi Sea if oil is developed there. And we know that an oil spill in the harsh conditions of the Arctic would be nearly impossible to clean up.

"As scary as it is to think about an oil spill in the Arctic, the climate consequences of Arctic drilling are the real horror story," said the Center's Rebecca Noblin. "If we don't keep this dirty oil in the ground, there's not going to be much of an Arctic left to protect."

Read this moving op-ed in Medium from the Center's Miyoko Sakashita, http://biologicaldiversity.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=zTYNnWl28EVnPeOyj7trr%2FtXLqeGcVWa and check out this video from our San Francisco "kayaktivist" protest last weekend.

https://medium.com/@EndangeredOcean/obama-s-approval-of-arctic-oil-drilling-is-a-bitter-betrayal-312384b19aee
https://vimeo.com/134163008