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After a six year wait and an investment of over $4 billion dollars, Shell was finally granted the right to drill in the Arctic Ocean by the U.S. Department of the Interior this past month. On September 9th, Shell drilled its first well into the pristine waters of the Chukchi Sea 70 miles off the coast of Alaska. The drilling was done with relative ease as levels of ice in the Arctic Ocean are now alarmingly at their lowest levels since 1979, about one fourth of what they were 30 years ago due to the effects of climate change.

However, only a day after the Noble Discoverer drilling rig began boring into the ocean floor, a 30 mile by 12 mile drifting floe of ice about 10 miles from the rig prompted Shell to put a stop to the drilling. Shell has stated that it will relocate the floating rig’s anchors and resume drilling once the ice passes.

Pete Slaiby, Shell Alaska’s Vice President stated proudly, “its’ the first time a drill bit has touched the sea floor in the U.S. Chukchi Sea in more than two decades.” But environmentalists continue to voice serious concerns as Shell neglected to conduct a thorough Environmental Impact Statement on the effects of drilling in the fragile Arctic environment and has failed to put together a comprehensive plan to clean up potential spills under the harsh weather conditions of the region. In their haste to start drilling before the September 24th cutoff date, the EPA loosened its emissions regulations when Shell complained that they could not comply with them.

GUEST: Subhankar Banerjee, artist, educator and activist focusing on human-rights and environmental issues.

Click here to read Subhankar Banerjee’s article.