North Slope Blowout on Land Clearly Shows We Are Not Ready to Deal with an Accident in the Arctic
Juneau, AK – Susan Murray, Oceana’s Senior Director, Pacific, issued the following statement in response to the North Slope Repsol well blowout:
“Yesterday, Spain’s big oil company Repsol drilled into a methane pocket that resulted in an exploration drilling blowout on Alaska’s Arctic shores. This is yet another wake-up call for the Obama Administration that oil and gas activities are risky business. We are incredibly lucky this is not an oil well blowout offshore in the Arctic Ocean; because the nation is not prepared to deal with an accident like that in offshore Arctic waters where the ability to respond is limited at best, and impossible at worst. As of right now 42,000 gallons of drilling lubricant or “mud” have spilled and an unknown amount of methane has escaped.
“This accident is only the latest of several oil and gas disasters since the Deepwater Horizon tragedy less than two years ago. As is the case with Repsol’s blowout here, accidents happen for unanticipated reasons, but when it comes to oil and gas activities the record shows it is not if an accident will happen but how soon will the next accident happen.
