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Green victory of the week: Shell abandons Arctic drilling

After spending $7 billion on exploratory drilling in the Chukchi Sea and coming up with “disappointing” results, Royal Dutch Shell has officially walked away from contentious plans to drill off the coast of Alaska.

The company says the costs are too high and the regulatory environment in Alaska too “challenging and unpredictable” to keep going. The company will now “cease further exploration activity in offshore Alaska for the foreseeable future.”

Environmentalists are declaring it a major victory. Greenpeace UK exec director John Sauven says that “unpredictable regulatory environment” that forced Shell out was actually “massive pressure from more than 7 million people” who campaigned for three years against Shell’s Arctic plans. Protesters had taken to kayaks and canoes, and rappelled from bridges to stop Shell boats from leaving port. Says Sauven, “Big oil sustained an unmitigated defeat. It had a budget of billions we had a movement of millions.”

Greenpeace says it’s time to make the Arctic ocean off-limits to all oil companies.

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adriav@nowtoronto.com | @ecoholicnation

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