SHELL DRILLS IN CHUKCHI SEA

摘要

Two weeks after granting Royal Dutch Shell permission to begin drilling for oil in the Chukchi Sea, President Obama was in Alaska to talk about his strategy on climate change - and pushing back on environmental activists who bitterly oppose his decision on the Shell venture. "Our economy still has to rely on oil and gas," Obama said. "As long as that's the case, I believe we should rely more on domestic production than on foreign imports." As Obama visited a shrinking glacier and coastal villages besieged by shoreline erosion, Shell's team was dealing with high seas and gale-force winds that forced suspension of operations on the Polar Pioneer semisubmersible rig leased from Transocean Ltd. High water was a problem on Alaska's north shore too, as Shell temporarily relocated some workers from housing in Barrow, Alaska, because of road flooding.