Arctic drilling risky business

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Environmentalists are reeling from the Obama administration’s decision to give conditional approval for Shell Gulf of Mexico Inc. to drill for oil and gas in the Arctic Ocean.

With memories of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf still fresh, it’s hard to see why a green light was given to Shell in the Chukchi Sea. Since it was initially granted permission to operate in the Arctic in 2012, Shell has had drilling setbacks in one of the world’s most environmentally fragile regions.

After two of its oil rigs ran aground and had to be towed, the Interior Department rescinded Shell’s drilling permit. The agency criticized the company’s failure to adequately supervise contractors and Shell was forced to acknowledge that it was initially unprepared to deal with an environment defined by extreme weather and remoteness.

That should have disqualified Shell from future Arctic drilling, but Obama is giving it another chance, provided it passes a final set of permit reviews.

This president has had a strong environmental record, but if a drilling disaster occurs in the Arctic, it will be known as Obama’s folly.