Two engineers with extensive experience in the oil industry said that Shell’s Artcic Drilling proposal is “imagineering, not engineering.” They also told that the company’s plans to begin drilling off the coast of Alaska in less than six weeks are fraught with risks that have not been adequately addressed by the company.
Dr. Robert Bea, a former Shell official, and Susan Harvey, who previously worked for British Petroleum, expressed serious concerns about Shell’s drilling plans, noting that a spill in the Arctic could not be cleaned up. WWF also expressed the same concern in its report to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, analyzing Shell’s proposed safety procedures for drilling in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas.
According to Dr Bea Shell’s proposal does not provide an accurate assessment of the true risks of drilling in the Arctic. Shell plans to begin drilling in 700 leases in the Beaufort and Chukchi, setting the stage for what WWF officials have called an “Arctic oil rush.” Harvey, who once headed the state agency in Alaska that oversees oil spill prevention and response, noted that the Alaskan North Slope is a particularly risky area to drill given its remoteness and lack of basic infrastructure needed to deploy oil spill response equipment.
WWF’s analysis noted that drilling in the harsh, remote environment of the Arctic is far more perilous than in the Gulf of Mexico and that the technology and logistical infrastructure does not exist to contain and clean up a spill in the Arctic waters of the Beaufort and Chukchi seas.
