Shell had obtained the leases in the Chukchi during the administration of former President George W. Bush.
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We will continue to monitor their work around the clock to ensure the utmost safety and environmental stewardship.”
After extensive review and under a robust array of safety requirements, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) Director Brian Salerno has announced that Shell has received approval of one Application for Permit to Modify (APM) to conduct exploratory drilling activities into potential oil-bearing zones offshore Alaska at one of the wells at the Burger prospect, Burger J. The company remains limited to the top section of the Burger V well.
The Polar Pioneer, a semi-submersible drilling unit that Shell leases from Transocean Ltd., began work July 30 at Shell’s Burger J site. The company has until late September to drill before ice in the frigid waters makes it too hard to drill, according to a spokesman.
In a statement, Greenpeace USA executive director Annie Leonard said the approval “means the Obama administration is leaving the fate of the Arctic up to Shell this summer”.
The U.S. Department of the Interior permit allows Shell to drill in the oil-rich Chukchi Sea off the northwest coast of Alaska. As the courageous climbers and kayaktivists that blocked the Fennica demonstrated, the fight to protect the Arctic Ocean is not over until President Obama hears the message, loud and clear: “the only path to a safe climate future is to leave Arctic Ocean oil and gas in the ground”. A Shell rig has already burrowed several thousand feet into the Arctic’s sea floor, but officials had said the company couldn’t drill deeper because it didn’t have proper safety equipment on hand.
Shell will also need to have trained wildlife observers on board all drilling and support vessels “to minimize impacts to protected species”, the agency said.
The permit to drill deep into the ocean hinged on the arrival of a capping stack, which is a roughly 30-foot device that can be lowered over a wellhead to act like a spigot to stop a blowout.
Shell applied for the permit after the icebreaker, the MSV Fennica, was held up due to damage.
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President Barack Obama is ending restrictions on Shell’s drilling in the Arctic Ocean – even as he prepares a trip to Alaska to highlight the dangers of climate change.
