"ANCHORAGE -- Shell Oil's delay in drilling Arctic Ocean exploratory wells off Alaska's northern shores is not due to heavy ice or federal regulators, according to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar."
"The setback to drilling this year during the short open water season, he said, is due to Shell's inability to complete construction on a spill response barge that remains in Washington state.
'If they had got it done, they might be up there today, because the waters in the Chukchi (Sea) around the so-called Burger find are already open,' he told reporters Monday. 'So it's not a matter of ice. It's a matter of whether Shell has the mechanical capability to be able to comply with the exploration effort that had been approved by the government.'"
Dan Joling reports for the Associated Press August 14, 2012.
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