The House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition, a group of 45 Democratic U.S. representatives, have called for an investigation into the recent grounding of Shell’s oil-drilling rig in the Gulf of Alaska. The coalition issued this statement:

“The recent grounding of Shell’s Kulluk oil rig amplifies the risks of drilling in the Arctic. This is the latest in a series of alarming blunders, including the near grounding of another of Shell’s Arctic drilling rigs, the 47-year-old Noble Discoverer, in Dutch Harbor and the failure of its blowout containment dome, the Arctic Challenger, in lake-like conditions. SEEC Members believe these serious incidents warrant thorough investigation.”

The Seattle Times reviews the situation in a Friday story, and a blog entry by NPR’s Bill Chappell provides an update on today’s towing effort.

Shell has given up plans to drill for oil in the Alaskan Arctic this year, after its oil-spill-containment dome was damaged during exercises off the Washington Coast. See the story by Sean Cockerham in the Anchorage Daily News.

Meanwhile, the Washington Department of Ecology has ordered two companies working on an oil-containment system in Bellingham to apply for stormwater permits. Ecology determined in May that permits were needed but decided to let things go, because work was supposed to be completed by the end of July. Now it appears that work will continue under other contracts. See Ecology news release.

In Great Britain, the Environmental Audit Committee of the U.K. Parliament has released a report questioning Arctic drilling in the face of what is known about the risks.

Among her comments on Parliament’s website, Committee Chairwoman Joan Walley, MP, stated:

“The oil companies should come clean and admit that dealing with an oil spill in the icy extremes of the Arctic would be exceptionally difficult.

“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.”

Shell Oil stopped drilling in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea yesterday, one day after drilling began, when the winds shifted and sea ice began moving toward the drilling vessel. Both Shell officials and opponents of Arctic drilling acknowledged that the challenge of sea ice is a major issue in Arctic drilling, which Shell intends to resume soon. Dan Joling of the Associated Press has the story with additions from Anchorage Daily News staff.