Epa Revises Shell Drilling Permit Near Alaska

摘要

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued a revised minor air quality permit to Shell Offshore, Inc. to regulate air emissions from the Kulluk floating drilling rig and its support vessels to conduct exploratory oil and gas drilling on the Outer Continental Shelf of the Beaufort Sea, north of Alaska, according to a June 19 press release. According to Rick Albright, director of EPA's Air, Waste & Toxics office in Seattle, the agency is satisfied that Shell's permit application met all EPA requirements. "This project has undergone extraordinary scrutiny," said Albright. "Because local communities in the North Slope Borough have expressed a wide range of important social and public health concerns, we've taken an extra hard look at the complete application package. We believe that from an air quality standpoint, this project, as permitted, will meet all health-based ambient air quality standards."