The Arctic is home to a rich variety of marine life, such as beluga whales. Chukchi Sea, Alaska. (Florian Schulz / visionsofthewild.com)

The Arctic Ocean got a reprieve and Big Oil got its latest reality check, today, when ConocoPhillips admitted it's not ready to drill in the Arctic Ocean. After Shell’s summer of accidents and near-misses, a blistering report from the Department of Interior, and now ConocoPhillips’ admission, it is time for the Obama administration to recognize our country’s Arctic offshore oil and gas program was premature. The administration’s “all of the above” energy policy is ignoring the uniqueness of the Arctic region and failing to appreciate the harsh conditions Big Oil will have to be able to endure to drill for oil in Arctic Ocean.

The Fresno, California, Board of Supervisors has decided not to endorse a proposal by the Fresno Nuclear Energy Group to build a “Clean Energy Park,” outside town. The park would boast two big, 1,600-megawatt, French-made reactors, a solar-thermal plant, and a water desalination facility.

The account in the Fresno Business Journal doesn’t mention Japan or Fukushima explicitly, but the shadow in the background is unmistakable. And it must send shivers down the backs of people promoting a nuclear renaissance as the cure for global warming—especially as Germany has recently decided to stop building new reactors and to retire existing plants as replacement power comes on-line. Japan is clearly rethinking its commitment to nuclear power as well.

A beluga whale surfaces in the Chukchi Sea. Photo: Florian Schulz, Visions of the Wild

Florian Schulz is a professional nature and wildlife photographer who is currently working with Earthjustice and Patagonia to present“Visions of the Arctic,” a stunning collection of photos showcasing the beauty of the Arctic and the threats the region faces from industrialization and climate change.

As I type this, having just returned from a two-week photography trip to the Arctic, my fingertips tingle, possibly from the lingering cold, or possibly from the trepidation that the tragedy of the Gulf oil spill will someday repeat itself in America's Arctic Ocean. Though President Obama has temporarily halted his plans to expand new offshore oil leasing until federal investigations into the cause of the Deepwater Horizon rig explosion are completed, there are plans already underway to drill in America's Arctic Ocean as early as this summer.

Even worse, the government has signaled its approval for Shell Oil Company to begin its exploratory Arctic drilling without fully considering the impacts that an accident like the ongoing Gulf disaster would have on such a fragile ecosystem. What also has not been adequately considered is the increased difficulty of responding to such a disaster in the Arctic, which presents weather conditions incomparable to those found in the Gulf. During my treks through the Arctic wilderness, I encountered shifting ice sheets, bone-chilling temperatures, and areas of snow that were blowing so thick it traveled across the ground like a ghost of fog.