Gulf Oil Spill: Similar Disaster Could Occur in Arctic Later This Year

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has heightened fears of a similar
disaster occurring off America's Arctic coast, where Shell is due to begin
exploratory drilling later this year.

by Alex Spillius in Washington

President Barack Obama has ordered a review of the Anglo-Dutch firms plan's
to drill off the coast of Alaska.

[The
sun rises over an oil-soaked beach on May 23 on Grand Isle, Louisiana. The
Alaska Wilderness League said in a statement that it would be almost
impossible to mount the kind of clean-up witnessed in the Gulf of Mexico,
describing the Arctic as one of the "most remote and extreme environments on
Earth". (AFP/Getty Images/File/John Moore) ]The sun rises over an oil-soaked
beach on May 23 on Grand Isle, Louisiana. The Alaska Wilderness League said
in a statement that it would be almost impossible to mount the kind of
clean-up witnessed in the Gulf of Mexico, describing the Arctic as one of
the "most remote and extreme environments on Earth". (AFP/Getty
Images/File/John Moore)

Activists have claimed that the remote nature of the proposed drilling site,
sub-zero temperatures and gale-force winds would be formidable obstacles to
any potential clean-up operation.

The Alaska Wilderness League said in a statement that it would be almost
impossible to mount the kind of clean-up witnessed in the Gulf of Mexico,
describing the Arctic as one of the "most remote and extreme environments on
Earth".

Meanwhile, in the Gulf of Mexico, there was no end in sight for the massive
clean-up operation, as BP officials said on Sunday that one of their efforts
to slow the leak was not working as effectively as it had initially.

A mile-long tube inserted into the leaking well siphoned some 57,120 gallons
of oil within the past 24 hours, a sharp drop from the 92,400 gallons of oil
a day that the device was sucking up on Friday, according to John Curry, a
BP spokesman.

However, the company has said the amount of oil siphoned was likely to vary
from day to day.

Over the weekend Mr Obama created a commission to examine what caused the
explosion on and subsequent leak from Deepwater Horizon BP rig and to "make
sure it never happens again".

He noted concerns about the "cozy relationship between oil and gas companies
and agencies that regulate them".

However, the president underlined that he remained committed to retaining
off-shore oil as part of his energy plan. "Because it represents 30 per cent
of our oil production, the Gulf of Mexico can play an important part in
security our energy future," he said.

The establishment of the commission came as oil continued to gush from the
rig, blackening more of the Louisiana's marshlands and beaches. Even at the
lowest estimates, more than six million gallons of crude have soiled Gulf
waters.

Bob Dudley, BP's managing director, said that the latest bid to stop the
leak in a ruptured pipe 5,000 feet below the surface would began on Tuesday
or Wednesday. A "top kill" operation that has never been tried before will
shoot heavy mud into the pipe then seal it with cement.

With the crisis entering its fifth week, the Obama administration has been
forced increasingly on the defensive for responding too weakly and placing
too much trust in BP.

Normally friendly voices have begun to criticize the president personally.
James Carville, a former Bill Clinton campaign manager and Louisiana native,
said the president had been "lackadaisical" and "naïve".

Chris Matthews, a popular liberal cable TV presenter, said the president was
"acting a little like a Vatican Observer".

"The president scares me," he said. "When is he actually going to do
something? He doesn't want to take ownership of it."

Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, said: "There's no doubt that
we have had some problems with BP's lack of transparency: We asked that a
video feed [of the oil gush] be made public, and that took ten days. We have
sent letter recently in order to get them to post their air-and-quality
data."