Eighteen senators sent a letter last week that urged the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement to halt all offshore oil and gas drilling permits in the Arctic’s Chukchi Sea.
Led by Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., the letter to Sally Jewell, secretary of the Interior, stated that by reinstating Shell’s Arctic drilling permit, the senators were concerned that the “Department of the Interior did not fully account for the likelihood of oil spills and the resulting cultural and environmental impacts from fossil fuel development in the Arctic region.”
The letter also said that the oil and gas industry “has demonstrated inadequacies in oil spill prevention and response in challenging Arctic waters and the region lacks the infrastructure to support either drilling operations or clean up response with adequate safety or effectiveness.”
