Oil drilling in Arctic nears reality as Shell emergency plan is approved

But officials in Alaska have long urged an expansion into one of the world's last great reserves of crude oil. They say they're convinced that offshore drilling is crucial to reducing the nation's reliance on foreign oil, boosting jobs and keeping the trans-Alaska pipeline running.

"After three years of hard work with federal agencies, we have cleared another hurdle toward oil and gas development in Alaska this summer," U.S. Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, said in a statement.

Shell officials have already begun submitting drill permit applications _ and hope to win approval of their oil spill response plan in the Beaufort Sea, along with final air emissions permits from the Environmental Protection Agency _ in time to begin a drilling operation that has already been delayed several years.

"Approval of our Chukchi Sea oil spill response plan is another major milestone on the path to drilling in Alaska offshore this summer and further validates the huge amount of time, technology and resources we have dedicated to assembling an Arctic oil spill response fleet, which is second to none in the world," Pete Slaiby, Shell's Alaska exploration manager, said in a statement.