Al Gore: Obama's Arctic drilling plan 'is insane'

Former Vice President Al Gore offered up some rare criticism of President Barack Obama’s environmental policy in a recent interview, calling for a ban on all Arctic drilling and blasting the administration’s decision to allow Royal Dutch Shell to begin sinking exploratory wells in the oil-rich Chukchi Sea in the Arctic as “insane.”

“I think that in his second term, he has done really quite a good job,” Gore said in an interview with The Guardian published Thursday. “Of course there are things I would change. I think Arctic drilling is insane. I think that countries around the world would be very well advised to put restrictions on drilling for oil in the Arctic Ocean,” Gore said in an interview with The Guardian.


The Deepwater Horizon spill “was warning enough,” Gore added. “I think it’s a mistake to drill for oil in the Arctic. I think that ought to be banned.”

Gore mostly praised Obama’s environmental efforts in the interview, though he said the president could do a better job of standing firm against the oil, gas, and coal industries.

“I think he is doing essentially a very good job but on the fossil fuel side I would certainly be happier if he was not allowing so much activity like the Arctic drilling permit and the large amounts of coal extracted from public lands,” Gore said, according to the report.