Is Shell Really Abandoning Arctic Drilling?
It's great that the energy giant pulled out of the Arctic Ocean. But let鈥檚 still stay vigilant.
Time for a mild confession: Back in late September, when Shell announced that it was shuttering its offshore oil exploration in the Arctic 鈥渇or the foreseeable future,鈥 my glee was initially tinged with a rather selfish shadow of glum: How would this affect our publishing plans for for 爆料公社 on how Shell strong-arms its way to regulatory approvals in Washington? Did Shell鈥檚 decision mean鈥攁s, indeed, a Shell spokesman would later assert in rejecting Yeoman鈥檚 interview request鈥攖hat the story was no longer relevant?
Then I came to my senses. Shell is not abandoning Arctic drilling forever鈥攏or, for that matter, are its competitors in the carbon-extraction biz. As Yeoman points out, the Shell leases run another four years, and, 鈥渇oreseeable鈥 or no, Shell CEO Ben van Beurden talking up in Arctic Alaska after the company鈥檚 dramatic announcement of its strategic withdrawal. When the price of oil gets back to a point where it justifies the risk and the expense and the potential brand besmirchment among environment lovers, oil giants will be back seeking approval to drill all over again.
And when that day comes, the cautionary tale that Barry Yeoman has assembled from deep piles of government documents鈥攎any of them brought to scrutiny by the dauntless and Freedom of Information Act鈥搘ielding 鈥攚ill be extraordinarily relevant. Yeoman gives us an under-the-hood account of a conflicted and cringing process behind the creation of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management鈥檚 latest environmental impact statement for the Shell drilling plan. And one of the most unexpectedly disturbing aspects of his story is that it is deeply unsurprising. He鈥檚 not revealing any gross malfeasance or criminal behavior; it鈥檚 just that when a powerful corporation pays and has the political muscle to command audiences at the White House, regulatory agencies find themselves forced to accelerate processes, cut corners, and shift resources away from worthier projects in order to service its needs. Yeoman鈥檚 investigation, which we proudly publish in this issue, was titled 鈥淏usiness as Usual鈥 (in the print version) for a reason. This is not an expos茅 of an exception, it鈥檚 an anatomy of a rule.
And that鈥檚 why, whatever Shell might hope, this is hardly the time to relax our vigilance鈥攗p in the Arctic, or anywhere else.