Conservation groups based in Alaska have accused the Obama administration of repeating the mistakes of George Bush after it gave the conditional go-ahead for Shell to begin drilling offshore for oil and natural gas in the environmentally sensitive Beaufort Sea.

The Minerals Management Service, part of the federal Interior Department, yesterday gave Shell the green light to begin exploratory wells off the north coast of Alaska in an Arctic area that is home to large numbers of endangered bowhead whales and polar bears, as well as walruses, ice seals and other species.

Whale experts warn that the bowhead stocks are sensitive to noise and could be driven further off shore by the disruption of drilling. That in turn would have an impact on their chances of survival, which have already been harmed by early side-effects of global warming.

There are also fears that any drilling could lead to oil spills which would be impossible to clean up amid the Arctic's broken sea ice....Read Full Article by Ed Pilkington

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How sad ... How selfish ... how ungrateful to the only planet we know and have.

Paula Marie Deubel , October 23, 2009 | url

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You are endangering the wildlife even more,by what you are doing. Have we not done enough harm there already. Don't you think it is about time that people in Washington wake up,and start useing your brains god gave you and stop setting on them

Alan Brown , October 23, 2009

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