Arctic Drilling

On my trip to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska I got to see the very beginning of the Trans-Alaska pipeline. It’s an impressive project that carries crude oil from the North Slope of Alaska all the way through the state to Valdez, Alaska. For 31 years oil has been coursing through that massive pipe and then shipped to feed California’s unquenchable thirst for gasoline. But the North Slope is slumping. Each year, production drops by 10-percent due to dwindling oil fields.

The Arctic Ocean is supposed to keep that pipeline filled for generations to come, but the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico may have derailed the dream. Shell Oil has paid $3.5 billion on leases, equipment and studies with the payoff coming this July when they drill five exploratory wells in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. The plans were approved by the Minerals Management Service and Shell was just awaiting the final drill permit from the Interior Department.

The Gulf spill triggered a 30-day moratorium on new permits. Also, environmental groups have sued to permanently block the project. They are joined in opposition by the Alaska Natives who live primarily off what they catch in the waters just offshore. Most of the Eskimo’s diet consists of bowhead whale, seal and fish from the Chukchi sea.

The villagers of Point Hope Alaska say their entire way of life would be threatened by a spill. Shell says it can drill safely. It plans on putting a spill response vessel on site for the duration of all drilling. And while the company admits the harsh conditions add some uncertainty, it points out that drilling would be in shallow water, just 150 feet, making a spill response easier and faster than in the Gulf.

Shell is attempting to be the first company to tap into what is projected to be a 27-billion barrel oil reserve in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. That’s 11 billion barrels more than what has been produced on Alaska’s North Slope over the last 30 years.

Fox News