Blowout could spill 58 million gallons in Arctic
By DAN JOLING, Associated Press Dan Joling, Associated Press – Wed Apr 27, 9:24 pm ET
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The federal agency overseeing offshore drilling in Alaska says the worst-case scenario for a blowout in the Chukchi Sea lease could result in a spill of more than 58 million gallons of oil into Arctic waters.
That's about a quarter of the Deepwater Horizon spill, which put 206 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. But it's far more than Shell Oil — the major leaseholder in waters off Alaska's northwest coast — says it could handle under its current response plan.
When applying for exploratory permits, Shell was required to prepare for a maximum spill of 231,000 gallons per day. The company says its fleet of on-site responders — including boats, barges, skimmers, and a tanker that can hold 21 million gallons of recovered liquids — can handle a spill of 504,000 gallons per day.
But according to the memo prepared by the Alaska office of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, a worst-case scenario blowout could initially discharge about 2.6 million gallons per day.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_arctic_offshore_drilling------------ As Obama said just before the BP catastrophe ---------------
'OIL RIGS THESE DAYS DON'T SPILL' !!!