"The U.S. Coast Guard and Royal Dutch Shell were fighting 70 mile-per-hour winds and 40-foot swells as they tried to assess damage to a floating oil drilling ship that ran aground on a remote Alaskan island."
"Authorities haven’t been able to board people onto the Shell rig Kulluk because of the challenging conditions and are still watching the weather, said Jason Moore, a spokesman in Anchorage, Alaska, for the Unified Command, a response group that includes the Coast Guard and industry representatives. The Coast Guard was observing the rig overnight, he said in a telephone interview today.
'It was rocking a little bit, so it is responding to wave action,' he said. 'It is stable. No sheen of any kind.'
The rig was stranded on the coast of Sitkalidak Island, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) southwest of the town of Kodiak, according to a Coast Guard statement yesterday. Environmental groups yesterday called for a halt to the company’s efforts to drill in Arctic waters. Opponents had previously sued Shell to prohibit drilling off Alaska."
Jim Polson and David Wethe report for Bloomberg Businessweek January 2, 2013.
SEE ALSO:
"Critics Say Grounding Shows Arctic Drilling Danger" (AP)
"A Rig Accident off Alaska Shows the Dangers of Extreme Energy" (TIME)
"Shell Drilling Rig Remains Difficult To Reach for Rescue Team" (Anchorage Daily News)
"Shell to Send Salvage Crew to Alaska Rig" (Wall St. Journal)
"FAA Restricts Air Zone Around Grounded Shell Oil Drilling Rig Off Alaska Coast" (Alaska Dispatch)
"Runaway Alaska Oil Rig Dragged Two Tugs for Miles" (Reuters)
"Breakaway Oil Rig, Filled With Fuel, Runs Aground" (New York Times)
"Shell Oil Rig Runs Aground in Alaska with 139,000 Gallons of Fuel on Board" (Treehugger)
"Will Shell's Grounded Drilling Ship Impact US Energy Policy in Arctic?" (Alaska Dispatch)
"Kulluk Drilling Rig Accident Stokes Fresh Fears on Arctic Drilling" (FuelFix/Houston Chronicle)
"Rig Runs Aground in Alaska, Reviving Fears About Arctic Drilling" (New York Times)
"Shell Drilling Ship Salvage Impeded By Storm" (AP)
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