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Oil Exploration Ramps Up In US Arctic

Posted by Soulskill on from the gotta-bring-those-gas-prices-down dept.

ananyo writes "A new round of exploratory oil drilling is due to begin in the Arctic this July. The oil giant Shell was granted permission some months ago by the U.S. government to drill two exploratory wells in the Beaufort Sea and three in the Chukchi Sea, both north of Alaska, this year — between 15 July and late September. The project is finally coming to fruition after years spent fighting legal challenges. It will be the first oil-exploration program to run in U.S. Arctic waters since 2000, and could mark the start of the first offshore commercial drilling in the American north, although it would take another decade to establish production wells."

5 of 182 comments (clear)

  1. Re:This is news? by d'baba · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They realize quite perfectly if they have a major spill or blowout then the game is over.

    You mean like BP's game is over?
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    Any conversation about a sufficiently complex subject is indistinguishable from babble.

  2. Re:Good by Penguinisto · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You both have it wrong. Here's how US public opinion on the matter actually works:

    Average gasoline prices under $3.75/gal? "Bad oil company! No drill! NO DRILL! bad! bad! bad!"

    Average gasoline prices over $4.50/gal? "I don't care if you have to line the well with baby seal fur and lubricate the rig with infant dolphin blood! Drill, damn you! DRILL!"

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    Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
  3. Economist article on Arctic warming by DavidHumus · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The Economist has a funny quote in their article -http://www.economist.com/node/21556800 - on how faster-than-expected warming in the Arctic will open up previously inaccessible resources:

    "Oil companies are reluctant to admit that climate change plays a part in their northward shift. They do not want to be seen to be profiting from the environmental damage to which their activities have contributed."

  4. A convo i inagine... by cant_get_a_good_nick · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Oil Guy: Do you find it ironic that we denounce global warming, but use higher temps and lower ice mass to get more oil for more Carbon emissions?

    Tobacco Guy: no, not at all.

  5. Re:Good by Billly+Gates · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Or we can just not drill and have you pay more at the pump?

    Or let Canada get the money instead and really pollute the environment with its tar sands?

    Why is it evil to help poor native Americans living in these villages get free education and money for groceries and a better life for their kids? No matter where you spend your money you subsidize people regardless through standard economics. Alaska pays to use its resources because most of the population is native and they own a majority stake in the pipeline. It is their land so why can't they keep it?

    So where I used to live has resources and a large part of the economy is more dependent on that than any other source. Natives fish around the oil well in Prudhoe Bay all the time and the water is prestine and clean. They have a stake in making sure it is.

    I am not an ulta conservative nutcase or work in the oil industry. I am just giving slashdotters another perspective.

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