Obama administration expected to approve Shell’s Arctic drilling program as early as Wednesday
Written by Lauren McCauley, staff writer for CommonDreams, published March 24, 2015
Marking 26 years since the Exxon Valdez ran aground spilling as much as 38 million gallons of oil into the Port William Sound in Alaska, activists on Tuesday protested the Obama administration’s continued support for Arctic oil exploration.
Despite the known threat to the fragile Arctic ecosystem and high risk of a devastating oil spill, the Department of the Interior is expected as early as Wednesday to sign off on the revised environmental impact statement (EIS) for Shell’s Chuckchi Sea lease, which would clear a major hurdle for the company to restart its Arctic drilling program this summer. Continue reading