Shell should be allowed to drill in the Arctic

Kleptocracy: A government characterized by rampant greed and corruption. (www.thefreedictionary.com)
Glenn Reynolds reminds us that

many of the world’s worst actors are oil kleptocracies. The more oil we produce, the less money they have.

Glenn links to this editorial in USA Today recommending that Shell be allowed to drill for oil in the Arctic.

Actually, in some ways, drilling in the Chukchi Sea is less risky than in the Gulf of Mexico, where BP notoriously lost control of its Macondo well five years ago in one of the worst spills in history. The BP well was in 5,000 feet of water, which made capping the blowout fiendishly difficult; in Alaska, Shell will be drilling in just 140 feet of water.

Well pressures will also be as much as five times less in Alaska, which lowers the risk of a blowout. Given the weather, the allowable drilling season is very short, running from July through part of October.

...Finally, the U.S. needs the kind of oil that could be found off Alaska. Alternative energy provided 7% of the country's energy needs in 1990. A quarter century later, that has grown to barely 10%. Estimates of recoverable oil in the Arctic offshore run as high as 30 billion barrels, equal to some of the biggest oil fields in the world.

Producing that oil will take a decade or more, which means decisions made today will affect consumers in 2025 or later. That's prudent planning. Shell should go ahead.

Read more here.