US House members want investigation of Shell drilling barge; vessel intact near Alaska island

[wordpix]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/critics-say-grounding-of-shell-drill-ship-shows-company-not-ready-for-arctic-offshore-drilling/2013/01/02/4b9056a6-554d-11e2-89de-76c1c54b1418_story.html

By Associated Press, Published: January 2 | Updated: Thursday, January 3, 5:58 PM

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Calls for federal scrutiny of Royal Dutch Shell PLC drilling operations in Arctic waters swelled Thursday with a request for a formal investigation by members of Congress.

The House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition called on the Interior Department and the Coast Guard to jointly investigate the New Year’s Eve grounding of the Shell drill vessel Kulluk on a remote Gulf of Alaska Island, and a previous incident connected to Arctic offshore drilling operations in 2012.

The coalition is made up of 45 House Democrats.

“The recent grounding of Shell’s Kulluk oil rig amplifies the risks of drilling in the Arctic,” they said in a joint statement. “This is the latest in a series of alarming blunders, including the near-grounding of another of Shell’s Arctic drilling rigs, the 47-year-old Noble Discoverer, in Dutch Harbor and the failure of its blowout containment dome, the Arctic Challenger, in lake-like conditions.” more....

This burns me up Sierra Club has a letter going around here, please sign:


Dear wordpix,

This is the last straw:
Tell President Obama we can't trust Shell in America's Arctic!

https://secure.sierraclub.org/site/Advocacy?pagename=homepage&page=UserAction&id=10049&autologin=true&s_src=213RHAN01&JServSessionIdr004=mvueupzdm1.app226a

Shell oil rig after grounding. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Coast Guard.

It's a new year, but one thing hasn't changed: Shell still can't be trusted to drill safely in America's Arctic.

On New Year's Day, a Shell Oil rig, carrying over 150,000 gallons of petroleum products, broke free from its tugboat and ran aground near Kodiak Island, Alaska.

This is the last straw after a long string of failures. Tell President Obama to immediately cancel Shell's drilling permits before it's too late.

Last year, Shell came close to drilling for oil in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas - also known as the Polar Bear Seas because they are home to 20% of the world's polar bear population. But Shell showed it was completely unprepared for the reality of the stormy waters of the Arctic Ocean. Shell’s ships caught fire, the spill clean-up equipment was destroyed during testing, and at the last minute, Shell admitted it wouldn't be able to comply with its clean air permits.

But this most recent incident is the last straw. The Polar Bear Seas are far too important and fragile to leave in the hands of Big Oil. They are home to walrus, endangered ice seals, hundreds of species of migratory birds, and bowhead and beluga whales. Shell’s incompetence could lead to an irreversible disaster.

Tell President Obama: we can't trust Shell in America's Arctic.

Last year, millions of comments from people like you stopped Shell's plans to drill in the Arctic, and we can stop Shell again this year.

Thank you for everything you do for our wild places,

Dan Ritzman
Sierra Club Arctic Campaign Director

P.S. After you take action, be sure to forward this alert to your friends and colleagues, and share it on Facebook and Twitter: