Canada’s energy regulator, the National Energy Board, is fast-tracking a decision that would permit Imperial Oil and Chevron to explore for oil in environmentally sensitive Arctic waters without showing they can drill a same season relief well, Cluson and Axelrod report. “Instead, the companies “are likely to rely on technological well control methods such as blowout preventers, containment domes, and capping stacks. These technologies, never tested or deployed in the Arctic, are challenging to use in open water conditions and have not had a long history of success.” In a region with “extreme temperatures, ice, heavy storms, a major lack of marine infrastructure, and an annual operating window of about three months,” they add, “the risk of a long-term, uncontained spill is very real.”
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