Drilling Critics Warn of Spill in Arctic Ocean

[babylonsister]

Drilling Critics Warn of Spill in Arctic Ocean
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: May 16, 2010

Filed at 1:56 p.m. ET


ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- Inupiat Eskimo whale hunter George Kingik follows news accounts of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. He cringes when he imagines crude fouling his backyard, Alaska's Chukchi Sea.

''They're not ready for the Arctic,'' Kingik said from his home in Point Hope, 700 miles northwest of Anchorage. ''It's completely different up here.''

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Alaska's indigenous people and environmentalists say a catastrophic spill in the Chukchi would leave the petroleum company without backup resources considered routine in the rest of the country.

The nearest Coast Guard base is Kodiak, more than 900 air miles away. Nearby coastal communities such as Point Hope are tiny and lack deep-water harbors and large airports. Cleanup assets are stationed at Prudhoe Bay, hundreds of miles away on Alaska's north coast. Unlike at Prince William Sound, where more than 300 fishing boats are under contract to lay down boom if another supertanker hits a reef like the Exxon Valdez, there's no one to call for local assistance.

If a blowout occurred late in the summer, it could be impossible for another rig to arrive and drill a relief well before the water freezes, leaving a well to flow until it plugged itself or spill response vessels reached it the following summer, according to drilling opponents.

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http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/05/16/business/AP-US-Arctic-Ocean-Drilling.html?_r=1