Oil industry leaders say mandates will thwart development Regulations to cost an estimated $2 billion over 10 years Energy companies that hunt for crude in icy Arctic waters will have to stash extra equipment nearby and take other potentially costly steps meant to prevent oil spills in the fragile, remote region under regulations the Obama administration imposed Thursday. The first-ever Arctic-specific rules for offshore drilling will govern any new oil exploration in the area as melting ice makes it easier for energy companies to plumb once-frozen waters at the top of the globe. Industry leaders, who lobbied against the regulations when they were proposed in 2015, said the mandates will discourage development in U.S. Arctic waters estimated to contain 24 billion barrels of oil. “We believe there to be billions of barrels of oil there, and we are an economy that is going to need oil for decades to […]