WASHINGTON - Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said earlier this week that it was "highly likely" the agency would grant Shell permits to begin drilling exploratory oil wells off Alaska??s North Slope, the New York Times reports.

Drilling could begin as earlier as next month, and Salazar expressed confidence Shell would meet the Interior Department??s new standards for offshore drilling that requires companies to collect at least 90% of any oil spilled in the event of a well blowout.

"I believe there will not be an oil spill," Salazar said. "If there is, I think the response capability is there to arrest the problem very quickly and minimize damage. If I were not confident that would happen, I would not let the permits go forward."

The move comes as the Obama administration begins moving forward on an energy strategy to expand domestic resource production. The Interior Department conducted a major oil and gas lease sale for the Gulf of Mexico this month, attracting $1.7 billion in bids.

Also earlier this week, the Army Corps of Engineers approved permits for a Canadian company to build 115 miles of new pipeline that will carry oil from a petroleum pipeline in Oklahoma to Gulf Coast refineries.

Salazar said that a 2017 offshore oil and gas leasing program that will be released this week would include new tracts in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas off Alaska, but that those sites would exclude sensitive environmental areas and wildlife migration and feeding waters.

Marilyn Heiman, an Arctic specialist at the Pew Environment Group, praised the department??s new approach to leasing.

"It??s becoming clearer and clearer that this administration has gotten the message that the Arctic is different and needs a more careful approach," Heiman said. "We??re still disappointed they are talking about new leasing when they already have millions of acres under lease. But the fact they pushed it back to do science and study community and subsistence needs sends a very strong signal."