Shell Oil Co. is reporting an oil leak at one of its drilling rigs in the North Sea. The company will not disclose the amount of the spill, but says it is now under control. This is not the first time.
Documents that were made public recently showed the company experienced nearly one oil spill a week during a two-year period in 2009-2010.
This most recent spill couldn’t come a worse time.
The company has been touting improved safety measures and awaiting EPA approval of those measures so that it can go ahead with its plan for drilling in the Arctic. Oil interests have been pressuring the Obama administration to speed things along, on their assurances that nothing can go wrong.
It is puzzling why the administration has made an about-face on its offshore oil-drilling policy. After promising that no new drilling would take place until it could be done safely, the president has taken a full speed ahead approach just a year after the BP Gulf oil spill.
It should be noted that all these rigs were built with the same sort of assurances of safety that they’re giving now. Why should anyone believe them?
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