The Obama
administration said Thursday that Shell can take preparatory steps toward Arctic
offshore drilling, an announcement that came just hours before the end of a
Republican National Convention that has featured repeated attacks on the
president as a foe of domestic energy production.
Interior
Secretary Ken Salazar told reporters that the two events are unrelated -
although it was the latest in a series of energy-related announcements that the
administration has put out this week.
Salazar said his
department will allow Shell to perform “limited preparatory activities” in the
Chukchi Sea, which includes installing two segments of pipe in
non-oil-containing formations.
That falls short
of the full drilling approval that Shell has been waiting for, less than a month
before the scheduled end of the region’s drilling season. But Salazar said Shell
may be able to get Interior’s certification in the next four or five days for
the project’s spill-containment vessel, a crucial prerequisite for
approval.
Shell confirmed
that it expects the containment system to be ready for certification in the
coming days. Politico
Shell's Arctic
drilling plans had appeared on track to begin this year but it has run into
delays. The company has spent $4.5 billion so far in its effort to explore for
oil and gas off Alaska's coast. Reuters A major hurdle
for Shell has been securing certification for the Arctic Challenger, an
oil-spill response vessel that remains in Bellingham, Washington, weeks after
the company had hoped to send it toward Alaska's North Slope. BSEE will perform
a final examination of its containment system after the Bureau of Shipping and
the Coast Guard sign off on the vessel's safety. Platts Shell began
picking up leases for offshore Alaska in 2005, but intense opposition from
environmentalists and native groups scuttled previous plans.
Reuters
SAR/HJ
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