Exactly What Were The Headline Writers Trying To Say? -- Exactly What They Said-- Not a Bakken Story

Is it just me or is this confusing, except to those who are following this story very, very closely?

This is the headline: EPA rejects appeal of Arctic air permit for Shell exploratory drilling ship

It certainly sounds like, at least to me, this was bad news for Shell.

But it isn't, as far as I can tell.

The story is this, if I understand it correctly.

Shell has poured billions into this project thinking they had all the necessary permits.

At the last minute, the EPA moved the goalposts and denied Shell's applicaton.

Shell went back in and re-accomplished everything, at great expense, and entailing another delay.

The EPA approved Shell's revised application.

The faux-environmentalists appealed the EPA decision to approve the Shell application.

This story, linked above, says the EPA denied the appeal. If I understand the story correctly, the EPA has given Shell the go-ahead to begin exploratory drilling on a very, very limited and constrained basis.

A better headline: EPA rejects appeal; Shell to drill

Or even better: EPA to Shell: Drill, Drill, Drill

Anyway, that's how I read it. But the headline certainly caught my attention -- when it was sent to me by Don. A big thank you to Don for sending this story my way. I had lost the bubble on this one.

From the linked story, in case the link is broken:

Royal Dutch Shell’s quest to drill exploratory wells in Arctic waters has received a boost with the affirmation that its federal air permits for the Chukchi Sea were properly granted.

The EPA Appeals Board on Thursday rejected challenges to the air permits brought by Alaska Native and conservation groups.

Shell Alaska spokesman Curtis Smith said in a formal announcement that the decision means Shell, for the first time, has usable air permits that will allow its drill ship, the Noble Discoverer, to work in the outer continental shelf off Alaska’s northwest coast in 2012.

But on a very, very limited and constrained basis (oh, I already wrote that).