Posted on 04/25/2011 6:28:52 AM PDT by thackney
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 EPAs 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. Hes especially frustrated over the appeal boards 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, ...
The EPAs 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.
What the modeling showed was in communities like Kaktovik, Shells drilling would increase air pollution levels close to air quality standards, said Eric Grafe, Earthjustices lead attorney on the case. Earthjustice was joined by Center for Biological Diversity and the Alaska Wilderness League in challenging the air permits.
At stake is an estimated 27 billion barrels of oil.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
The world is laughing at us...
Careful! You don't want the Speaker to lose it!
EPA = Enviromentalists’ Protection Agency
If it is an energy company, all the better...
I made the post about 1,400 comments about an hour ago. The total now is over 2,000!
They are not shutting down. They are working outside the US and importing the oil.
“you never hear the oil cos and their refineries complain or take out ads about the way they are treated by the enviros.”
They are scared silly the Fascists will shut them down. The damned government already holds the largest corporations in the country in the grip of fear. What scares me the most is that the public has not revolted over it. While the protesters in the Middle East have no brains, they do have balls.
Understood, but when will some major corporation go Galt in a way that really gets someones attention, The S & P and Bill Gross’s warnings are just nibbling around the surface and so many are still asleep.....
Yes, I'm sure the pantywaists in the GOP will get cracking on this ASAP. Not.
We are virtually the only country on the face of the earth that locks up its natural resources.
We are on a suicide mission.
That’s OK. We’ll move about 100 feet over and let the Russians drill for it.
Of course we knew it would come down to this. The EPA marches on in victory.
It was the emissions from the ice breaker that would service the rig that hung up the permit. BS!
Unreal. It’s time to de-fund the EPA.
A clever move; should help lower Shell’s obscene profits by a point or two, and that’s one element of the campaign to downsize the U. S. petroleum industry.
I just emailed Issa’s office. I am thinking of calling tomorrow.
This is not about protecting the environment, it is about destroying the economy in the US according to the wishes of the socialists in charge of the EPA.
And rightly so. But until there is actually a Civil War II, I don’t believe anything will change. Until there are real consequences for the people destroying the country, they won’t stop.
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