WASHINGTON, DC – In response to the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announcing its conditional approval for Shell to drill in the Arctic Ocean this summer, LCV Deputy Legislative Director Alex Taurel issued the following statement:

“It’s disappointing that the Interior Department is green-lighting Shell’s plans when the department’s own environmental assessment admits there is a 75 percent chance of a large oil spill in the Arctic if Shell fully develops its leases. Drilling in undeveloped areas like the Arctic Ocean also would mean locking in decades of new carbon pollution at a time when climate science tells us we need to rapidly move to clean energy sources. The risks are simply too high to trust Shell to operate safely in a region as ecologically rich, remote, and unforgiving as the Arctic Ocean.” 

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