The Patriot Post® · Obama Administration: No Arctic Oil Exploration for You

Thanks to one bum exploratory well, the Obama administration said enough was enough. In April, the Obama administration allowed Royal Dutch Shell rights to exploratory drilling in the Chukchi Sea. After spending $7 billion and exploring one well, the company is calling it quits. The government was hounding Shell with regulations and the well did not spit out as much black gold as the company hoped. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell said, “In light of Shell’s announcement, the amount of acreage already under lease and current market conditions, it does not make sense to prepare for lease sales in the Arctic in the next year and a half.” It’s common sense that exploration involves a certain amount of failure. So it appears the Obama administration is using one company’s failure as an excuse to shutter offshore oil drilling across the region. Obama’s agreement with Shell was unusual, as he indicated time and time again that he thinks the economic future of Alaska is in tourism, not oil production. If this simply stays the Obama administration’s policy, then little will change. Domestic oil production is on a decline and exploration is not as profitable as it used to be. The problems will come if Obama tries to codify his theories on the nation’s energy needs into regulation.