Drilling in the Arctic Ocean

Royal Dutch Shell is putting billions of dollars into offshore drilling in the Arctic which is back by an Obama administration. Even though the project is being watched carefully the weather is not being gracious. They also have their own problems that are setting them back. A drilling rig slipped its anchor an almost hit land and Shell hasn't finished their spill-response vessel that they need under the federal regulations before they can even think about drilling. They were forced to cut back on the project. Shell has put $4.5 billion into this project and by the time everything is done the spill-response barge will have to travel for three weeks which may push the start date to drilling into September. One of the permits only lasts until September 24 and on October 31 is when the other ends. They expect to drill this summer though. It will be a major disappointment if they can't drive this year. The Obama administration wants this to go through after the oil spill. They want it to be a sign that they understand we need to drill. Environmentalists' are worried that the Arctic Ocean is to unpredictable for the oil company to take on. Me. Salazar stated Shell was to blame for most of the delays. Still the environmental concerns were very important. The last time someone tried drilling in the Arctic Ocean turned out to be a failure. Other companies are also interested in Arctic drilling. The Chukchi could produce 400,000 barrels of oil daily. The U.S. uses about 19 million barrels every day. Shell is coming up on the end of the Arctic summer and one of the drilling rigs may be heading up there soon.

I believe the Arctic Ocean is very unpredictable. I would not want to drill there. The icy water does what it wants when it wants. I believe they should drill somewhere a little less icy. What if an oil spill happened right there? It's hard enough up there without accidentally having an oil spill. If environmentalists are worried about the oil company's being able to handle it than I think we should listen to them.

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