America's Rejoining the Race for Arctic Oil

President Obama has protected some parts of the Arctic Ocean from oil and gas development — but he's permitted exploration in other parts. Royal Dutch Shell will be towing massive rigs back and forth from Seattle to far Northern waters for drilling during brief summer respites from icy storms. In the waters off Seattle, small boats and kayaks are gathered to protest exploratory oil drilling. Outraged environmentalists see potential disasters worse than Deepwater Horizon, which devastated the relatively placid Gulf of Mexico. Meantime, Russia, Norway — and even China — are also looking at opportunities for Arctic oil drilling created by climate change.