EPA Rules Force Shell to Abandon Oil Drilling Plans

Shell Oil Company has announced it must scrap efforts to drill for oil this summer in the Arctic Ocean off the northern coast of Alaska. The decision comes following a ruling by the EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board to withhold critical air permits. The move has angered some in Congress and triggered a flurry of legislation aimed at stripping the EPA of its oil drilling oversight.

Shell has spent five years and nearly $4 billion dollars on plans to explore for oil in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. The leases alone cost $2.2 billion. Shell Vice President Pete Slaiby says obtaining similar air permits for a drilling operation in the Gulf of Mexico would take about 45 days. He’s especially frustrated over the appeal board’s suggestion that the Arctic drill would somehow be hazardous for the people who live in the area. “We think the issues were really not major,” Slaiby said, “and clearly not impactful for the communities we work in.”

The closest village to where Shell proposed to drill is Kaktovik, Alaska. It is one of the most remote places in the United States. According to the latest census, the population is 245 and nearly all of the residents are Alaska natives. The village, which is 1 square mile, sits right along the shores of the Beaufort Sea, 70 miles away from the proposed off-shore drill site.

The EPA’s appeals board ruled that Shell had not taken into consideration emissions from an ice-breaking vessel when calculating overall greenhouse gas emissions from the project. Environmental groups were thrilled by the ruling.

http://visiontoamerica.org/202/epa-rule ... ing-plans/

And the Environmentalists win another one. When can WE drill for oil in or around the U.S.? The dictatorship of America doesn't care that we have to pay a fortune for a tankful of fuel from our enemies.

The Chinese must be licking their chops and laughing as they continue to stockpile as much energy as possible, dirty or not.

Emissions from an ice-breaking vessel? With sky-high gas prices our leaders speak of energy independence and they allow the EPA to halt drilling efforts over air permits for a single vessel?

Insane. Absolutely insane.

The talking point last year for the Dems was that the oil companies own all these leases but take forever to start drilling but the Left forgets to point out that enviromental groups constantly petition the courts to prevent drilling on those leases.

That article doesn't BEGIN to contain enough information to base a judgement on one way or the other as to whether the EPA decision was justified or not. The fact that so many of you leaped to judgement anyway is telling.

SS109 wrote: The talking point last year for the Dems was that the oil companies own all these leases but take forever to start drilling but the Left forgets to point out that enviromental groups constantly petition the courts to prevent drilling on those leases.

That is simply another example of ignorance. Just because you lease a plot, does not mean you can begin drilling. Years of data acquisition, data processing, interpretation and mapping of the data, risk analysis, platform construction, etc. must take place before a company can even entertain drilling. Few have a realistic idea of just how much money and effort is spent after lease acquisition and prior to drilling the first exploratory hole in a frontier area.

The situation is much like it was with Obama's infamous oil spill commission; a bunch of smart people but none with expertise in the oil business.