Photo from the National Sierra Club.

To the disappointment of conservationists, on May 25 a federal Court of Appeals approved the go-ahead for Shell to begin oil drilling exploration in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas off the north Alaska coast. The Dept. of the Interior approved Shell’s plans last August, in accord with President Obama’s overall energy strategy despite the experience of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The move also parallels the push by other countries by other contries to move into the freezing northern waters – last month Exxon Mobil announced what could become a $500 billion exploration of Russian arctic off-shore oil fields, in partnership with oil giant Rosneft. Goodbye polar bears!