It took three months to stop the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and the cleanup effort will go on for years. Yet some in the industry want to expand drilling in Alaska’s remote and forbidding Arctic Ocean. If a spill happens here – in storm-prone seas, amid shifting ice, in a region with no road system, no major ports and no permanent Coast Guard presence – how will we contain it?
Alaska Natives, along with walrus, polar bears, whales and millions of migratory birds, depend on a healthy Arctic Ocean. More than 400 scientists have asked the administration to take a timeout on drilling in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas until a science-based management plan and a proven spill response system are in place.
President Obama, please don’t risk a spill in U.S. Arctic waters.
