“I will not back down from making sure an oil company can contain the kind of oil spill we saw in the Gulf two years ago.”
That was what President Obama said in his 2012 State of the Union addresss. We need to hold him to that promise.
Just last week, the non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report prepared for the House Energy and Commerce Committee finding that Shell does not have the ability to contain a spill of that magnitude in the Arctic. Its plan of relying on resources from concurrently operating drilling rigs is insufficent for the icy waters of the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas where 20-foot swells, sea ice up to 25 feet thick, and sub-zero temperatures are the norm.
Royal Dutch Shell ships are racing to get to America's Arctic Ocean where they will begin the riskiest Arctic drilling project in history.
Tell President Obama to keep his word and stop keep Shell out of America's Arctic.
Dear President Obama
As we approach the two-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon Gulf
catastrophe, I am deeply concerned that a similar crisis could occur in
the Arctic. Shell Oil's plan to drill in America's Arctic is deeply
flawed and, as found by the GAO--fails to address or prepare for a spill
similar to what we saw in the Gulf.
In your State of the Union
address, you made our nation a promise: “I will not back down from
making sure an oil company can contain the kind of oil spill we saw in
the Gulf two years ago.”
Shell has not demonstrated that in can
contain a spill. Please honor that promise and prevent risky offshore
drilling in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
