The Arctic Challenger is what Shell Oil claims will be their Arctic oil spill response unit. They are not joking. Unless the problems associated with the hull shape have been addressed, the vessel should not be certified by the Coast Guard for Shell’s contemplated use.

Since the start of the response to BP’s oil disaster, the company and government have solicited suggestions from the public for ideas to stop the gusher, cleanup oil, or otherwise improve the current cleanup operations. Why not set up a website with all of the submitted ideas and allow the public to evaluate proposals? The government (or BP, or whoever’s in charge today) can display the submissions and supporting information, sort by type of idea, and establish set criteria for the evaluations to be filtered, and then let the best ideas as determined go up for further review to whaetever experts the government determines.