Alaska Dispatch

The latest word coming out of the nation's capital is that exploratory oil drilling scheduled to start off the Arctic coast of Alaska this summer will be allowed to proceed despite a growing spill from the drill rig Deepwater Horizon fouling coastlines on the opposite end of the continent.

"Let me be clear," President Barack Obama told reporters Friday morning. "I continue to believe that domestic oil production is an important part of our overall strategy for energy security. But I‘ve always said it must be done responsibly for the safety of our workers and our environment."

Still, there was edginess in the 49th state's oil patch on Friday as Gulf of Mexico crude hit Louisiana wetlands and began to threaten beaches in states to the east and west. With each wave of new oil, media hysteria was growing. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was being thumped for her vice presidential campaign chant of "drill baby drill," and the Los Angeles Times was reporting late Friday that wildlife rescuers had found "the first animal to be affected by the spill. A young northern gannet was found offshore. The bird is normally white with a yellow head and long, pointed beak but was covered in thick, black oil."

The 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill went from being a problematic tanker grounding near Valdez to a national disaster at the point at which winds shifted and spilled oil began killing birds and sea otters all over Prince William Sound. Similar winds were roiling the oily waters off the Mississippi River delta Friday and pushing crude toward shore and breeding birds.

Charles Wohlforth, an author who covered the Exxon spill as a reporter for an Anchorage newspaper, expects public anger in Gulf states to grow steadily in the days ahead as the oil continues to come ashore -- something that could last for weeks, given an uncapped wellhead gushing 200,000 gallons a day from deep beneath the seas of Louisiana.

"It seems like it's just a rerun of the same movie," Wohlforth said. "It's at about the state day four was during the Exxon Valdez."

Wohlforth predicted the next stage will be the discovery that oil spills "are inevitable, and you can't clean them up." That, he said, is likely to be followed by the political conclusion "we've got stop new leases until we change the technology."

Such a chain of events could have major implications for Alaska. At present, the Obama administration has stopped only deep water drilling and ordered an investigation into events surrounding the explosion that racked the Deepwater Horizon and led to its sinking. But there are no guarantees the investigation will remain limited to only deepwater drilling as emotions heat up and interest groups try to spin oil spill damage to their advantage. Environmental groups that want to stop drilling in the pristine Arctic will gain a big club with which to beat on oil companies when the first videos and photographs of oiled wildlife show up on television and in video.

Royal Dutch Shell, however, is pushing ahead with plans to drill in July. Shell spokesman Curtis Smith said the company will proceed with its pre-approved plan for exploration in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas unless told to stop. So far, the company has received no such order from the Obama administration.

Oil industry officials note the technology being used by the Horizon to drill 5,000 feet deep beneath the surface of the ocean is different than the well-established spill prevent technology employed when drilling at lesser depths. The industry has argued that shallow-water technology is well proven, but it remains to be seen if that argument will sell over the long term.

Contact Craig Medred at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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