Free Republic

A group of 15 Democratic senators wrote to 11 major banks last week asking them to ban funding oil and gas drilling or exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. "The scale of your banks’ assets individually, let alone together, give you the ability to drive change in protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and in shifting towards a U.S. financial sector that effectively analyzes and plans for climate risks," the senators wrote. "We respectfully urge you to reassess your current environmental and climate policies and update them to include a prohibition on funding for oil and gas drilling or...

Representatives for Norway’s government appeared in an Oslo court on Tuesday after environmental groups including Greenpeace brought a case over drilling in the Arctic. Greenpeace, along with environmentalist youth group Natur og Ungdom (Nature and Youth), has sued the Norwegian state over licenses it awarded in 2016 for oil prospecting in the Barents Sea. The Scandinavian country is western Europe’s biggest oil producer. A third group, called the Grandparents Climate Campaign, has also joined the case against the state. The plaintiffs accuse Norway of violating the Paris Agreement on climate change and a section of the country’s constitution amended in...

When Canada’s federal government issued a five-year moratorium on oil and gas drilling in the Arctic at the end of last year, the environmentalist community rejoiced, just as it did in the United States, when the Obama administration did the same. Everyone seemed sure the move would bring benefits to everyone. Or perhaps they just didn’t really care that there are communities heavily dependent on the oil and gas industry for their livelihood. Now, the Prime Minister of Canada’s Northwester Territories has slammed Ottawa for its decision, along with others concerning the northern province, saying what we are witnessing today...

The Trump administration said Thursday it is taking steps to expand oil drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans as President Donald Trump continues to push for U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market. The Interior Department is rewriting a five-year drilling plan established by the Obama administration, with an eye toward opening areas in the Arctic and Atlantic oceans that now are off-limits to drilling. It’s one of six initiatives that the president unveiled Thursday in hopes of generating more energy exports and jobs. “The golden era of American energy is now underway,” Trump said in a Thursday speech...

The Obama administration gave its final stamp of approval Wednesday to Shell Oil Company's application to drill oil and natural gas in the Arctic Ocean. Under the approval, Shell can start drilling exploratory wells as soon as its fleet arrives at its prospect in the Chukchi Sea, about 140 miles off Alaska's northwest coast. But the two “application to drill”s approved by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) included key restrictions that bar Shell from drilling in areas known to contain oil, since its safety equipment is not yet fully ready. The decision is a major...

Hundreds of people in kayaks and small boats have staged a protest in the north-western US port city of Seattle against oil drilling in the Arctic by the Shell energy giant. Paddle in Seattle was held by activists who said the firm's drilling would damage the environment. It comes after the first of Shell's two massive oil rigs arrived at the port. The firm wants to move them in the coming months to explore for oil off Alaska's northern coast. Earlier this week, Shell won conditional approval from the US Department of Interior for oil exploration in the Arctic. The...

The budget reconciliation bill recently passed by the US Senate would finally open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to drilling. Environmentalists are "outraged," while most Democrats in the House of Representatives plan to go against their constituents’ best interests by voting against drillin

Proponents of drilling for oil in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge fell 14 votes short of the 60 needed to shut off Senate debate on the proposal Thursday, thereby losing the chance to vote on it. A House-Senate conference committee will need to reconcile the House-passed energy bill — which would allow drilling in the refuge — with any energy bill the Senate passes, giving proponents of Arctic drilling another opportunity to reach their goal. [...]