Clinton ‘skeptical’ about Arctic drilling

Hillary Clinton said she has “doubts” about whether oil and natural gas drilling should be allowed in the Arctic Ocean.

{mosads}“I have doubts about whether we should permit drilling in the Arctic, and I don’t think it is a necessary part of our clean energy, climate change agenda,” Clinton told NH1.

“I will be talking about drilling in general, but I am skeptical about whether or not we should give the go-ahead to drill in the Arctic.”

Clinton’s comments conflict with President Obama, who has given Royal Dutch Shell the go-ahead to drill — with limitations.

Her position is likely to win favor from environmentalists, who have criticized her on other issues, including the Keystone XL Pipeline and hydraulic fracturing.

Shell is likely to start drilling soon from a spot about 75 miles off Alaska’s northeastern tip, the first drilling in the United States’ Arctic waters in years.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, Clinton’s top opponents for the Democratic nomination, have both come out against Arctic drilling in particular and offshore drilling in general.

The issue of drilling in one of the last frontiers has fired up environmentalists. They maintain that a spill or other incident would be disastrous in the Arctic because it would be so hard to clean up. They also say the production will have catastrophic effects on climate change.

The oil and gas industry, meanwhile, is hoping to increase drilling and production in the coming decades. It sees the Arctic as the best prospective area of the globe for fossil fuel production.