Clinton in Arctic to see impact of climate change [View all]

[limpyhobbler]

TROMSOE, Norway — US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took a first-hand look Saturday at the way a warming climate is changing the Arctic, opening the region to competition for vast oil reserves.

Experts here estimate the value of the Arctic's untapped oil alone -- not including natural gas and minerals -- at $900 trillion, making it a huge prize for the five countries that surround the Arctic if they can reach it.

And with climate warming opening up some 46,000 square kilometres (18,000 square miles) a year that had once been bound in ice, the region is expected to burst open, not just with oil exploration but with East-West trade along a more accessible northern route.

Returning from a tour of the Arctic coastline aboard a Norwegian research trawler with scientists and government officials, Clinton told reporters that she learned "many of the predictions about warming in the Arctic are being surpassed by the actual data."
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http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hohEAK0N-vo6jGS-JsZM1KBNISZg?docId=CNG.85a11c5c2c24b3ba3c4589466d52917a.181

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OK so polar ice melting due to climate change is "opening the region to competition for vast oil reserves" ?

Ironic no?

In related news, Alcoholic's wife leaves him, freeing up more time for him to hang out drinking under the bridge.