Alaska congressional delegation backs Shell

Alaska’s congressional delegation favors Shell Oil’s plan to explore for oil this summer in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, off Alaska’s North Slope.

Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich and Rep. Don Young all spoke May 17 at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon in Anchorage.

According to an Anchorage Daily News report, the lawmakers said offshore drilling is necessary, despite the anxiety created by the oil leak from a BP well in the Gulf of Mexico.

“To consume, we must produce from our own land,” Begich said.

Young said the Gulf of Mexico leak is a tragedy but he doesn’t believe it has reached the level of a disaster.

Shell sent a letter to the federal Minerals Management Service the week of May 9 describing how it plans to prevent a spill and how it would react if oil leaked in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas.

For one thing, Shell says it will test its major underwater well-control equipment, called a blowout preventer, every seven days instead of every 14.

—The Associated Press