Activists say the president made it look like decision to allow Shell to resume drilling operations ‘is not in his hands’ despite executive actions in other areas
Environmental groups were baffled on Thursday after President Barack Obama wrote a series of seemingly misleading tweets justifying Royal Dutch Shell being allowed back into the US Arctic for exploration and drilling.
Two weeks ago, the Obama administration gave Shell the go-ahead to restart drilling in the region despite repeated warnings from environmentalists that it could very probably lead to an ecological disaster as well as a finding in one of the government’s own reports that the likelihood of a spill in the next 77 years was as high as 75%.
@BigBennyFL 1/ We’ve shut off drilling in the most sensitive arctic areas, including Bristol Bay.
.@BigBennyFL 2/ But since we can’t prevent oil exploration completely in region we’re setting the highest possible standards
.@BigBennyFL 3/ already rejected Shell’s original proposal as inadequate which shows we’re serious.
Related: Shell handpicked auditor to sign off on government’s Arctic drilling renewal