Seattle Fears Arctic drilling, Shell Moves Rigs

 

The decision to allow the oil company access has been controversial among environmentalists groups as well as local communities that could be affected by the drilling.

 

Seattle city leaders are fighting to keep Arctic oil drilling equipment out of the Puget Sound as the Shell works on a deal to store the equipment with the Port of Seattle near the mouth of the Duwamish River.

 

The Obama administration may reaffirm a 7-year-old government auction of oil leases in the Chukchi Sea - a decision critical to Shell's plans to resume drilling in those Arctic waters this summer.

 

Even before the pending decision, Shell Oil Co. has begun moving its drilling rigs to the region, marking the clearest sign yet that it expects to bore new Arctic wells this summer, though the company must secure a raft of government approvals first.

 

Interior Secretary Sally Jewell is poised to help Shell clear a major hurdle in its effort to resume drilling for oil in the Arctic Ocean, despite opposition from her hometown of Seattle, where the company’s drilling fleet would be moored at the city’s port.

 

Even if Jewell okays the sale, Shell must secure drilling permits and other regulatory approvals as part of its quest to return to the Chukchi Sea north of Alaska, where it drilled the first part of one well into its Burger prospect in 2012.

 

The Port’s decision in February to lease Terminal 5 to Foss Maritime, which will service the Royal Dutch Shell rigs, was appropriate because facilitating the maritime economy is what the Port does. 

 

Environmental activists are arguing — loudly — that the Port should scuttle that lease as part of a proxy war over climate change. A coalition of groups have sued and on Friday learned their lawsuit will go forward.

 

“There’s nothing good about this,” said Zarna Joshi, of the Coalition of Port Accountability.  “Except that a few people at the top in Shell make money.”