EPA Creates Oil Crisis
Shell Oil Company has spent five years and nearly $4 billion dollars in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, on plans and leases. EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board decision to withhold critical air permits, has forced Shell to announce it must scrap efforts to drill for oil this summer.
Kaktovik, Alaska, the closest village, to where Shell proposed to drill is, 70 miles from the proposed off-shore drill site. It has a population of 245, according to the latest census.
Shell had not taken into consideration emissions from an ice-breaking vessel when calculating overall greenhouse gas emissions from the project, EPA’s appeals board ruled.
The EPA’s appeals board ruled that Shell had not taken into consideration emissions from an ice-breaking vessel when calculating overall greenhouse gas emissions from the project. Environmental groups were thrilled by the ruling. Eric Grafe, Earthjustice’s lead attorney on the case said “What the modeling showed was in communities like Kaktovik, Shell’s drilling would increase air pollution levels close to air quality standards.”
U. S. Geological Survey believes there are an estimated 27 billion barrels of oil in the U.S. portion of the Arctic Ocean. The Trans Alaska pipeline currently is carrying only one-third its capacity, or about 660,000 barrels a day. Oil in the U.S. portion of the Arctic Ocean, represents two and a half times the amount that has flowed through the pipeline.
According to information found on Fox News: “The Environmental Appeals Board has four members: Edward Reich, Charles Sheehan, Kathie Stein and Anna Wolgast. All are registered Democrats and Kathie Stein was an activist attorney for the Environmental Defense Fund. Members are appointed by the EPA administrator. Murkowski supported budget amendments that would have stripped the EPA of its oversight role in Arctic offshore drilling. The Interior Department issues air permits to oil companies working in the Gulf of Mexico.”
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