I Almost Lose It at Unified Command Press Conference

Kulluk in better days

At the Unified Command's Press Conference that convened at 10:45 pm tonight, where they announced the wreck of Shell Alaska's drilling rig Kulluk, I almost lost it.

All I asked was what the coordinates in longitude and latitude to the nearest minute of the wreck are.

Nobody had an answer.

They had known for about two hours of the grounding, and described it as being grounded on Kodiak Island, rather than on Sitkalidak Island.  They described how the Crowley tug Alert had let go its line at an opportune time to allow the rig some sort of soft landing.

Pure bullshit.

The so-called Unified Command is as pathetic as Shell Alaska's 2012 drilling season has been.  The Arctic Challenger is being reinvented in Bellingham.  The Noble Discoverer is impounded in Seward.  And the Kulluk is rapidly being converted to future razor blades on the rocks of Alaska's Gulf Coast.

That's what I wanted to say when told that someone would get back to me with the location coordinates.  Instead, I thanked them.

Happy New Year, Shell Alaska.