International governments should seek a moratorium on offshore drilling in the Arctic amid concern an oil spill in the region could cause catastrophic environmental damage, British lawmakers said Thursday.
"We heard compelling evidence that if a blow-out occurred just before the dark Arctic winter returned it may not be possible to cap it until the following summer _ potentially leaving oil spewing out under the ice for six months or more with devastating consequences for wildlife," said lawmaker Joan Walley, chairwoman of the committee.
"The infrastructure to mount a big clean-up operation is simply not in place and conventional oil spill response techniques have not been proven to work in such severe conditions," Walley said.
