Marilyn Heiman, director of the Pew Environment Group’s U.S. Arctic Program, has issued a statement in response to the Obama administration’s expected announcement today that any applications for exploratory drilling in the Arctic will be suspended until 2011. The statement says that Pew is very pleased with the President’s decision to suspend Arctic exploration drilling this summer. A delay until 2011 will provide the affected communities and agencies the opportunity to further study proposed drilling technology, oil spill response capabilities and the effects of oil drilling in the sensitive Arctic marine environment.
The Pew Environment Group has commended Obama administration’s decision which takes a cautious approach and gathering additional information about resource risks and environmental sensitivities before moving forward. The statement also said that no new oil leasing, exploration or production should take place until the president’s independent commission completes its process and reforms are implemented. The proposed drilling sites in the Arctic Ocean are thousands of miles away from spill response infrastructure equipment and personnel. Eight foot seas in the Gulf sidelined initial cleanup efforts.
