Offshore Exploration in the U.S. Arctic

VIDEO: Alaska Natives visit the Gulf Coast and discuss the oil spill and what effect a similar disaster would have in the Arctic.

Alaska’s Arctic Ocean is unprepared for a blowout like the Gulf of Mexico BP Deepwater Horizon Exploration Well Incident

The ongoing blowout from the BP Deepwater Horizon exploration well, in the Gulf of Mexico, has the potential to cause environmental catastrophe, despite the fact that it happened in a temperate region with substantial spill response infrastructure nearby. Last fall the Department of the Interior approved Shell’s plan to drill exploration wells in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas this summer.

In Alaska’s Chukchi Sea, there are proposed oil and gas exploration drill sites up to 140 miles offshore which, for much of the year is dominated by moving packs of sea ice, extreme storms, darkness and sub-zero temperatures. The fleeting Arctic summer isn’t much kinder with high temperatures in the 40s, gale-force winds, week-long storms, and heavy fog restricting visibility. Oil spill cleanup equipment to respond to a blowout is much further away and docks large enough to manage cleanup vessels are hundreds of miles away.

Oil Spill Response Difficulties in the U.S. Arctic Ocean:

• Chukchi Sea exploration sites are located up to 140 miles from shore.
   
• The possibility of a catastrophic blowout (like the recent BP Deepwater Horizon spill) occurring during exploration in the Beaufort or the Chukchi Sea has been dismissed.

• No technology has been proven to clean up oil in real-world, Arctic Ocean conditions.
  • This YouTube video shows a Beaufort Sea ice trial where one, relatively small chunk of ice disables some ocean containment boom.

• Oil spill response assets in the Arctic Ocean are insufficient:
  • Remote location, significantly lacking trained spill responders
  • Inadequate shoreside infrastructure to handle spill response equipment
  • Outdated and vague maps for Alaska that identify high priority ecological areas for protection 

Check out the Pew Environment Group's efforts to reform offshore energy management, including precautionary standards prior to oil exploration and improved standards for oil spill response.