One could dismiss Shell’s withdrawal from ALEC as hollow public relations, an extension of the company’s yearslong attempt to foster an image of social responsibility.
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ALEC’s “stance on climate change is clearly inconsistent with our own”, Curtis Smith, a Shell spokesman, said in a statement. After all, as Ben Elgin of Bloomberg News has reported, ALEC is not the only pressure group opposing climate-friendly rules that Shell has backed while simultaneously, in Jekyll-and-Hyde fashion, insisting that it favors limits on carbon.
As Shell moves forward with its plans to drill in remote Arctic waters, the U.S. Coast Guard is being forced to divert resources – including a national security ship normally used for monitoring drug trafficking – to ensure that the oil and gas company sticks to its safety and environmental requirements. ConocoPhillips, Statoil and Repsol also acquired leases in the sale but are letting Shell take the lead in exploration to gauge the ability of federal agencies to work with Arctic OCS exploration.
“I don’t know what led the master and the pilot on board to come to that decision”, he said.
“It’s been very clear for a long time what ALEC’s position is on climate change and corporations have been leaving ALEC in droves” in recent years, said Surgey. The report, entitled “Untouchable: The Climate Case Against Arctic Drilling”, shows U.S. Arctic offshore oil should be deemed an “untouchable” fossil fuel reserve by any reasonable measure.
Greenpeace director John Sauven said: “It’s been like Keystone Cops for Shell up there [in the Arctic], hasn’t it?”
Eric Schmidt, CEO at Google, accused ALEC of “literally lying” for its stands on climate and resistance to clean energy legislation.
But even Anderson now has many questions for Shell moving forward. The company’s 2012 Arctic venture failed spectacularly, resulting in citations for numerous safety violations, a drilling vessel running aground in a winter storm and eight guilty felony pleas by a Shell subcontractor.
The Fennica, an ice-breaking vessel belonging to Royal Dutch Shell plc (ADR) (NYSE:RDS.A), left the dry dock of Portland, Oregon on July 29.
The icebreaking vessel Fennica arrived in Portland late last month for repairs to its hull after sustaining damage in the Aleutian Islands.
Shell’s wayward icebreaker made it to the company’s Arctic Ocean drilling site Tuesday.
Oil spill prevention has been one of the most important and widely run campaigns by the Greenpeace organization, and falls under its Save the Arctic campaign.
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“There’s no way to safely drill in the Arctic”, Donaghy told InsideClimate News.
