This image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard shows the Royal Dutch Shell drilling rig Kulluk aground off a small island near Kodiak Island in Alaska last week.(Photo: U.S. Coast Guard)
ANCHORAGE -- A Shell oil-drilling ship that ran aground near a
remote Alaska island during a storm was under tow again Monday.
The Unified Command for the operation said the Kulluk was being towed to shelter in Kodiak Island's Kiliuda Bay.
There has been no sign of any oil leak from the Royal Dutch Shell vessel, which was refloated late Sunday.
The
incident has again raised questions by environmentalists and others
about growing efforts to drill for natural resources in the Arctic.
The ship was being towed to Seattle for maintenance when it ran aground in a powerful storm on New Year's Eve.
It is carrying more than 140,000 gallons of diesel and about 12,000 gallons of lube oil and hydraulic fluid.
The
Kulluk is a circular barge with a funnel-shaped, reinforced steel hull
that allows it to operate in ice. It is one of two Shell ships that
drilled last year in the Arctic Ocean.
Associated Press