Following New Rules, Groups Say Only 'Safe' Arctic Drilling Is 'No Drilling'

Environmentalists are sounding the alarm after the Obama administration unveiled the first-ever guidelines for drilling in the Arctic.

Released by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) and the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) on Friday, the proposed guidelines are being touted as a protective measure to “ensure that future exploratory drilling activities on the U.S. Arctic Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) are done safely and responsibly, subject to strong and proven operational standards.”

However, as green groups were quick to note, the best way to prevent a catastrophic oil spill from threatening the dangerous and pristine waters of the Arctic is to issue an outright drilling ban in that region.

“There is no such thing as safe or responsible offshore drilling in the Arctic, and the federal government knows it,” said Friends of the Earth climate campaigner Marissa Knodel. According to the government’s own environmental analysis, one lease sale in the Chukchi sea poses a 75 percent chance of a large oil spill, with no effective method for cleaning up or containing it.

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“Even with new standards the chances of an oil spill are high, as is the threat to our climate if we fail to heed scientists’ warnings to keep these dirty fuels in the ground,” Dan Ritzman, Alaska Program Director for Sierra Club’s Our Wild America campaign, said in a statement following the announcement.

The proposed guidelines focus solely on offshore exploration drilling operations within the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. They seek to codify specific requirements through all phases of the process, including mobilization, drilling, maritime transport and emergency response.