Shell vs. Alaska (photos)
Look at ’em. Lazy, non-taxpaying sea lions just lying about, not creating any jobs, and looking for a handout.
These photos were taken late last summer on a weekend trip I took to Resurrection Bay—a place en route if a somewhat tipsy crow were flying from the Mudflats office in Anchorage to the site of this week’s Shell oil rig crash landing (see map below). By Alaskan standards, it’s not far away (Seward to Kodiak is over 300 miles).
I wanted to give our readers in the Lower 48 some geographical context, as well as a sense of what an incredible coast can be found south of here.
I’ve been angry since reports have emerged suggesting Shell unsafely dragged its drilling vessel into violent waters on the open seas so as to avoid paying its state taxes on the rig. When the greed of big oil companies causes them to be reckless, bad things happen. BP and Exxon have shown us this movie before—recently in the former case, and locally in the latter.
So I’m trying to have positive thoughts instead of just feeling anger. Let’s hope this latest debacle Big Oil has brought to our doorstep ends as well as possible. And I hope you enjoy the Alaska scenery.
Thank you…! Every single one is beautiful…
As always, the beauty of Alaska is breathtaking. The hubris of the oil companies is disgusting. I think the fines for spilling when they’re drilling should be raised to ALL their profits for, say, seven years.
Amazing visuals. Not seeing anything that an oil slick would improve. A cornfield-eh…maybe.
Lovely moments of zen there, AKM.
Many thanks for sharing.
(Can’t say the same to Shell and BP and Exxon, though.)
tcw