Photo of the Week: Because No One Should Read Too Much on Fridays

The Shell drilling rig that ran aground off the Alaskan
coast on New Year’s Eve was
secured on Monday, officials said. The drilling rig Kulluk, pictured here on January 3, ran aground near an uninhabited
island after a winter storm caused it to break free from the tug boat cables used
to tow the vessel to Seattle. The grounding is the most recent in a string of
setbacks for Shell’s Arctic drilling efforts and has given more evidence to critics
charging that Shell and other international drilling companies are not yet
Arctic ready.

The prospect of slower commercial activity in the Arctic
should give pause to U.S. policymakers making plans for the Arctic. In
particular, the resources necessary to protect U.S interests in the region –
such as Coast Guard search and rescue and spill response assets – will depend
in part on the pace of commercial activity in the region. These recent Arctic
incidents should encourage policymakers to recalibrate their assumptions about
activity in the region.

Photo: On
January 3, the Kulluk remained
grounded 40 miles southwest of Kodiak City, Alaska. Courtesy of the U.S. Coast
Guard. 

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