White House Arctic Strategy Is Clear in Drilling Goals but Not Conservation Goals

Frances Beinecke, President of NRDC, New York City
As Secretary of State John Kerry headed to the Arctic Council meetings in Kiruna, Sweden this week, he described the way melting ice is altering life in the Arctic. "Our warming planet means the Arctic's ecosystem is experiencing significant, rapid shifts with far-reaching consequences," he wrote. "All of the changes in the Arctic must change the way we approach the region."
The Arctic most definitely needs a new approach to stewardship-one that can protect its natural wonders and ensure it remains resilient in the face of global warming. Yet the National Strategy for the Arctic Region that the White House released last week in advance of the Arctic Council meetings does not deliver what the region requires right now.
Despite Shell Oil's recent drilling fiascoes in the Arctic Ocean and mounting scientific evidence that ecosystems are under stress, the administration has outlined a plan that could open the Arctic to even more harm.
The new strategy emphasizes U.S. security interests in the Arctic. That makes sense in the light of the Arctic's international significance. But then the administration's plan makes the mistake of equating security with drilling for oil in the region. In fact, the Arctic Ocean may be the least secure place on Earth to drill for oil-as Shell confirmed when its effort to drill there resulted in one failure after another last summer. Moreover, America won't ever achieve energy security by increasing our dependence on a commodity that is traded on a volatile international market. True energy security means beating our oil addiction and investing in renewable energy and efficiency measures.

Shell's drill rig, the Kulluk, ran aground near Alaska's Kodiak Island on New Year's Eve.
Instead of looking to the Arctic for more oil, the administration should freeze drilling approvals and undertake a thorough, clear-eyed review of whether offshore drilling can ever be done safely in the region. The environment is known for twenty-foot seas, gale-force winds, dense fog, and sub-freezing temperatures much of the year. Arctic waters are also packed with ice for up to eight months each year, and no technology has proven capable of cleaning up an oil spill in ice.
The disastrous BP oil spill occurred in the ice-free waters of the Gulf of Mexico-a much more accessible location with industry infrastructure readily at hand. Now imagine a similar spill in the Arctic lease sites where the closest Coast Guard base is 1,000 miles away.
A sober, factual re-evaluation of offshore drilling should lead to the conclusion that, for both environmental and security reasons, the Arctic Ocean has no place in the United States energy future.
The administration should take clear steps to protect the region's rich and vulnerable ecosystems from the full suite of development threats they face. Though Arctic Strategy mentions important conservation goals including Arctic stewardship and integrated management, it discusses them at the broadest level. The Arctic Strategy released by the Bush Administration offered more details about how the U.S. could strengthen environmental protection and address challenges like the impact of marine noise on whales. The Obama Administration's strategy on the environment, however, is remarkably devoid of substance-a marked contrast with the unambiguous call for more oil development.
It puts a welcome if ill-defined emphasis on scientific research and integrated management, but we need action to protect this most vulnerable part of our planet. We need an affirmative plan to identify biological hotspots, create protected areas in the ocean, and preserve landscapes that help wildlife become resilient in the face of climate change.
Secretary Kerry was committed to making progress this week at the Arctic Council meetings-a gathering of foreign ministers from the eight Arctic nations and several indigenous groups. As someone concerned about climate change, the oceans, and the Arctic region, Secretary Kerry is poised to help the U.S. become a leader in sound Arctic management. But the U.S. cannot urge other countries to protect the region's environment if we are not making concrete commitments to do the same in our own Arctic waters and landscapes.
Now is not the time to ignore the hazards of unbridled energy development and unchecked climate change. There is simply too much at stake in the Arctic. It is home to the world's last wild ocean, some of America's most breathtaking natural treasures, and an indigenous culture thousands of years old. The Arctic is also the air conditioner for the world-as it warms our communities suffer more extreme weather events.
If we fail to protect the Arctic in this time of rapid change, we risk losing one of the crowning jewels of America's natural heritage. We have a responsibility to preserve this spectacular and fragile region.
Photo Credit: U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Jonathan Klingenberg

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Latest Shell Debacle in Alaska Part of a Larger Pattern of Risk and Failure

Frances Beinecke, President of NRDC, New York City
Shell Oil's string of failures in its Arctic Ocean drilling attempts continued into the New Year. One of the company's drill rigs ran aground near Alaska's Kodiak Island with 150,000 gallons of diesel fuel and other petroleum products onboard. In the face of a winter storm, all four of its tow vessel's engines failed. Then the tow line failed, and repeated efforts to re-attach lines and tow the rig clear of danger failed as well.
One storm thwarted Shell's plans to haul its rig to Seattle for maintenance. Yet the North is a region of storms. It is home to churning seas, punishing winds, frigid temperatures, and months of prolonged darkness. The oil giant's failure to prepare for and cope with plausible weather conditions and the resulting threats to human life and the environment make it vividly clear: Shell has no business trying to drill in the Arctic Ocean.

Shell's drill rig, the Kulluk, ran aground New Year's Eve. Photo credit: U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer 3rd Class Jonathan Klingenberg.
The dangers don't end in the Arctic. This drill rig debacle occurred 1,000 miles from Shell's drill site. The challenges and risks of Arctic drilling extend through the entire 2,000-mile delivery route to Seattle shipyards. And they leave countless coastal communities and marine ecosystems vulnerable to accidents like this one in Kodiak.
Shell has poured billions of dollars into offshore Arctic drilling, but no matter how much it spends, it cannot make the effort anything but a terrifying gamble. And if Shell, the most profitable company on Earth, can't buy its way to safety in Alaska, nobody can.
The grounding of Shell's drilling rig is not an isolated incident. It is part of a larger pattern in which Shell has proven no match for the elements. NRDC and our partners are calling for an immediate suspension to drilling activities in the Arctic Ocean based on this record of failure.
In July, one of Shell's drill ships slipped anchor and nearly ran aground in the Aleutian Islands on its way to a drill site in the Chukchi Sea. That same month, Shell conceded that it would not, as the government understood, collect 90 percent of any oil spill, but only "encounter" that much of it.
Through August, Shell had to keep its spill response barge the Arctic Challenger in Bellingham, Washington because it was plagued with so many problems. The barge is a linchpin in Shell's emergency plan, designed to be stationed between Shell's two drilling sites always at the ready. Yet the Coast Guard wouldn't certify it as seaworthy until the company dealt with 400 issues, including wiring and other safety shortcomings.
Then, when Shell started preliminary drilling without the spill response barge, within 24 hours its rig the Noble Discoverer had to flee from a 30-mile long iceberg that bore down on the drill site.
In September, Shell's containment dome-used to capture oil in the event of spill-was "crushed like a beer can" during pre-deployment testing. If this critical piece of spill response equipment couldn't function in the mild environs of the Bellingham harbor, imagine what could happen in the rough seas of the Arctic.
Shell's subsequent retreat from the Arctic was marred by punishing weather and problems evacuating drilling crews, disconnecting cables to the seabed, and refueling. Then the Coast Guard detained the Noble Discoverer for safety and pollution violations, after it limped into harbor with propulsion difficulties on its way south.
These are just some of the failures Shell has created as it tries to open our Arctic Ocean to oil development. The region can't afford any more of these kinds of mishaps. It's time to stop endangering the world's last wild ocean-and all the communities and marine life it supports. This video, narrated by Robert Redford, reveals some of the other wonders put at risk by Shell's Arctic drilling plans:
We must not sacrifice one of our remaining untamed places in reckless pursuit of oil. We know we have to leave oil in the ground or destructive climate change will become unstoppable. If not in the pristine and vulnerable Arctic Ocean, then where?
We don't need to endanger this wild region when we have better options. The new clean car standards issued in 2012 alone will double the fuel efficiency of America's car fleet and cut our need to import oil by one-third. We can power our economy without despoiling our wild places. Click here to tell the Obama Administration to stop Shell's reckless Arctic offshore scheme.

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