WWF sees "severe risk" in Arctic oil exploration

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Source: Reuters

The World Wildlife Fund is urging governments in the Arctic to suspend all oil exploration due to "severe risks" of spills or blowouts until a comprehensive plan to deal with disasters is in place, a senior official said.

Bill Eichbaum, a WWF vice-president, said extreme weather, icy conditions, lack of regulation and the absence of a coordinated plan of action between nations could lead to a crisis even worse than in the Gulf of Mexico.

"What we're seeing in the Arctic is the beginning of a major new industrial activity with variable standards from country to country and the potential for an accident," he told Reuters Television at the Global Oceans Conference in Paris.

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Eichbaum, who is vice-president of the WWF's Arctic policy, said the events in the Gulf of Mexico had made it even more important to suspend the licences in the Arctic.

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/LDE6431LQ.htm

[Blue_In_AK]

1. Shell has been permitted to start exploratory drilling

in the Chukchi Sea this summer, over vigorous opposition by the Native villages in the area. I can't imagine how they would deal with a spill under the ice during the winter. Would we even know?

[zonkers]

2. Kick.

[CreekDog]

3. WWF is all for show

[Judi Lynn]

4. All Drilling Must Be Halted In Arctic Pending Full Investigation Of Gulf Of Mexico Blowout, Says WWF

Source: World Wildlife Fund

All Drilling Must Be Halted In Arctic Pending Full Investigation Of Gulf Of Mexico Blowout, Says WWF
57 mins ago

Despite calls for drilling “time-out,” Shell still set to begin exploratory drilling in Arctic on July 1 “No new drill bits in U.S. waters until we understand what went wrong in the Gulf”

Washington, DC (Vocus) -- As thousands of barrels of oil continue to gush into the Gulf of Mexico, World Wildlife Fund officials today urged the Obama Administration to put a hold on exploratory drilling that is scheduled to begin in the Arctic on July 1 until the cause of the ongoing catastrophe has been identified and new safeguards have been put in place.

Within the next two weeks, ships deployed by Shell Oil are scheduled to depart for the North Slope of Alaska, where they will begin exploratory drilling. The Deepwater Horizon rig was also doing exploratory drilling in the gulf before the catastrophic blowout that killed 11 workers and now threatens to devastate hundreds of miles of U.S. coastal areas. The U.S. Department of Interior’s Minerals Management Service is currently considering various proposals to place a moratorium on new off-shore drilling, but none of these would put a halt to Shell’s exploratory drilling in July.

“We’re asking President Obama and Interior Secretary Salazar to affirm that there will be no new drill bits sunk into U.S. waters until we understand what went wrong in the gulf, and can be certain it won’t happen in the Arctic,” said Tom Dillon, WWF’s senior vice president for field programs. “The Gulf of Mexico has every technology available to cope with an oil spill that is now threatening to cripple the economic and ecological health of the entire gulf region. By comparison, there is no adequate plan and even less equipment for responding to a blowout in the Arctic Ocean. It would be dangerously irresponsible to allow new drilling until we understand what went wrong in the Gulf and have safeguards in place to protect the Arctic.”

As documented in the recent WWF report, “Not So Fast: US Ill-Prepared for Arctic Offshore Development” the proposed drill sites are located up to 140 miles off-shore in an area notable for extreme storms, gale-force winds, moving sea ice, darkness and subzero temperatures. Such hostile conditions would make it difficult, if not impossible to mount a robust response effort in the event of a major oil spill, which could devastate an ecosystem which is home to a wide array of wildlife including walruses, fur seals and polar bears, and supports the livelihoods of native Alaskan communities.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/prweb/20100504/bs_prweb/prweb3962604

[BrklynLiberal]

5. It would be great if President Obama agreed.

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6. thank you for the post Judi Lynn

:hi: