The USA lacks technical facilities to cope with emergencies which may happen at oil extraction on the Arctic Shelf of Alaska. This statement was made by Thad Allen, a retired United States Coast Guard admiral, AFP says.
Mr. Allen added that the US Coast Guard owns just three icebreakers with only one of them being in proper condition. According to Lieutenant Governor of Alaska Fran Ulmer, oil drilling in the North of the state should be preceded by the government investing funds in the development of the Coast Guard.
“It’s not an option; it’s a mandatory next step for our country to take,” said Ulmer, who was a member of a presidential commission that last month called for more government oversight to prevent a repeat of the Gulf of Mexico disaster.
Funding construction of new icebreakers is not a priority of the Republican Party, controlling the House of Representatives. Yet, the party members support the idea of permitting oil drilling on the Arctic Shelf.
The accident on Deepwater Horizon owned by BP occurred in April 2010. Before the corporation managed to clean up the oil spill, hundreds thousands tons of oil had poured into the sea which made it the most large-scale accident for the whole US history.
The leak liquidation was rather difficult partially due to the lack of necessary infrastructure - from floating craft to accommodation on the shore. In case the situation repeats, Alaska will have more hardships, a retired admiral says.
In spring 2009 the Federal Court of Washington declared the US government not being ready for vast oil spills in the coastal waters and suggested abandoning the idea of oil drilling on the Shelf. However, Obama’s administration favours the plans of developing shelf oil extraction.
