Environmental groups: Oil spill's effects persist
"The basic, underlying message of this report is: There is a lot more work to do," Callaway said. "The oil is not gone. We have to clean it up; we have to put methods in place to never let this happen again; and most importantly, we need to do significant restoration."
ALASKA
Interior Department Reaffirms Alaska Oil and Gas Lease Sale
"Today's decision affirms the sale of 487 leases covering 2.8 million acres under Lease Sale 193. All of these leases are subject to a series of conditions to mitigate operational and environmental risks, including: protection of biological resources; orientation programs to familiarize personnel with environmental, social, and cultural issues; environmental requirements regarding the placement of pipelines; precautionary action to mitigate potential oil spill impacts; and measures to minimize the effects to Spectacled and Steller's eiders. BOEM has also required specific mitigation measures for the corridor of leases closest to the coastline, including a corridor 52 miles from the shore in which no lease activity will take place, a site-specific monitoring program to assess behavioral effects on a number of marine mammals and polar bears, and conflict avoidance mechanisms to protect subsistence harvesting activities."
Shell clears another hurdle for offshore oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic
"In a statement reacting to the news, Rebecca Noblin, of the Center for Biological Diversity, called the Obama administration an "an ostrich lost in the Arctic." "Today, the Obama administration today buried its head in the snow," Noblin said in a statement. "Its decision to open the Chukchi Sea to offshore drilling without first obtaining the basic data it needs to inform its decision threatens polar bears, whales, walrus, and the region's Alaska Native communities The government should not compound this error by allowing Shell to start drilling next summer.""
