The US government has given Royal Dutch Shell the final approval it needs to drill for oil below the Arctic Ocean floor, off Alaska's northwest coast. Shell plans to drill two exploration wells before late September, when the open-water season ends.
US officials approved the permit after Shell bought technology that should help avoid well blowouts. Shell had previously only been allowed to drill the top sections of the two wells located in the Chukchi Sea because an important piece of equipment — called the "capping stack" — needed to be repaired in Portland, Oregon, reports the Associated Press. Now that the icebreaker carrying the equipment has made it to Alaska, Shell is free to drill at about 8,000 feet below the ocean floor for the first time in over 20 years.
