The Obama administration launched a sweeping inquiry into Shell Oil’s Arctic drilling program on Tuesday. The probe, to be completed within 60 days, will look at the company’s mishaps in Alaska and in Puget Sound.
The announcement from Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar comes a week after Shell’s Kulluk oil rig ran aground in the Gulf of Alaska.
A shipwrecked oil rig that was bound for Seattle has been floated off the rocks and towed to a safe harbor in the Gulf of Alaska. A fleet of nine ships accompanied Shell Oil’s Kulluk drill rig on the 45-mile tow. Shortly before noon Pacific Time, the rig reached its anchorage in sheltered Kiliuda Bay on Kodiak Island.
The House voted 257-167 late last night to pass the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. The bill now goes to the President, but sets up another confrontation over taxes and spending in just weeks. We check in with Jill Jackson of CBS News and hear from Representative Jim McDermott about why he voted against the deal.
Credit Petty Officer 1st Class Sara Francis / US Coast Guard
A Coast Guard helicopter crew conducts hoists of the first six of 18 crewmen from the mobile drilling unit Kulluk 80 miles southwest of Kodiak City, Alaska, 12/29/12. Rescue was prompted after there were problems with the tow Friday.
