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Broder reports: "Shell has asked the Environmental Protection Agency to loosen air pollution requirements for its Discoverer drill rig, which is planning to begin exploratory drilling operations off the North Slope of Alaska early next month."

The Discoverer is expected to begin drilling for oil in the Arctic in August. (photo: AP)
The Discoverer is expected to begin drilling for oil in the Arctic in August. (photo: AP)



Shell Seeks to Weaken Air Rules for Arctic Drilling

By John M. Broder, The New York Times

16 July 12

 

hell has asked the Environmental Protection Agency to loosen air pollution requirements for its Discoverer drill rig, which is planning to begin exploratory drilling operations off the North Slope of Alaska early next month.

In its application to the agency, dated June 28, Shell said the Discoverer cannot meet the requirements for emissions of nitrogen oxide and ammonia of an air permit granted by the E.P.A. in January. The company also asked for a minor air permit modification for its Kulluk drill ship, which is also supposed to begin work in the Arctic in the coming weeks.

An E.P.A. spokeswoman said the agency was reviewing the applications. Curtis Smith, a Shell spokesman, said he did not expect the permit changes to affect the drilling schedule, which has been set back several weeks because of unusually heavy sea ice.

Greenpeace and other groups opposed to oil and gas exploration in the Arctic said that Shell was trying at the 11th hour to change the terms under which it was granted permission to drill.

""This is a classic bait-and-switch," Greenpeace's executive director, Phil Radford, said. "Shell promises the E.P.A. - and by extension, the American people - anything that will allow it to get permits to drill the Arctic, and then at the last minute, Shell says it won't abide by its agreement and wants the E.P.A. to issue watered-down permits with no process whatsoever.

"This is just one more in a litany of broken promises from Shell when it comes to drilling in the Arctic," he said.

 

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+12 # tedrey 2012-07-16 07:21
No! They have a contract, and they must follow it, or be in violation, with all fines and penalties that implies.

Don't you wish we had an EPA who could follow their legitimate duty by telling Shell just that?

Don't hold your bresth.
 
 
+3 # John Locke 2012-07-16 11:16
tedrey: Shell will get what ever they want, this government is too well controlled by money and environmental criminals, and Obama just goes along with the plan!
 
 
+5 # Glen 2012-07-16 11:13
The EPA has been gutted. That began a while back, but very much so under George W. Only corporations such as the oil industry and related, have real power. They get what they want, and have small armies to back them up.
 
 
+3 # Gevurah 2012-07-16 16:48
So Shell can't meet the NOX emission requirements. Don't worry, be happy. The Environmental POLLUTION Agency will cheerfully bend over for Shell.

This is the same EPA that a whistleblower just caught spying on emails sent by its staffers that criticized practices. Nobody is supposed to criticized anything the EPA does!! Give the agency a bad name.
"Badder" than it already has?

Would be nice to think that Obama, if re-elected, would require the EPA to do its sworn duty. Dream on! He's in bed with the bad guys, sorry to say. He could have done so much better if he had
had cojones.
 
 
+2 # Luvuall 2012-07-17 07:15
Air pollution from the drilling rig is nothing compared to the ongoing pollution from the giant supertankers that fill up with oil as fast as they can. This creates the potential for electrostatic charge exploding the tanker, so the tanker engine exhaust is pumped into the hold throughout the return trip to eliminate any free oxygen. When they fill the tanker with oil, it displaces the concentrated engine exhaust, saturated with aromatic hydrocarbons from the oil, sending this toxic brew out into the pristine wilderness, several times a day, continuously. This horrible pollution is not even mentioned in this discussion. I learned it from an ex-captain of the Exon Valdez.
 

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