From FuelFix, in May 2015, the fossil fuel funded periodical you previously cited - "Shell spokesman Curtis Smith said the government approval 'signals the confidence regulators have in our plan.'"   See also http://fuelfix.com/blog/2015/08/17/obama-administration-oks-deeper-drill....  No complaints in these articles about how mean the administration is to the poor oil and gas industry.

Your argument is that Obama made things so difficult and expensive for drillers that they decided not to fight the power.  This claim is belied by Obama Interior Secretary Sally Jewell's announcement in October of last year:  "[T]he decision to cancel auctions scheduled for 2016 and 2017 was dictated by current economies for oil, and the harsh conditions of hunting for oil in the Arctic which had forced Shell to pull out."  No word about global warming or the threat of environmental catastrophe. 

On the other hand, it is true that oil industry analysts say that new regulations made it too expensive for drillers.  To the extent this is true, Obama does not deserve as much credit as you want to assign him.  The new regulations were driven by environmentalists and other grassroots activists as much as by the administration's concerns.

From Newsweek in October:

Over the past several years, in response to lawsuits by environmental groups and Alaska Natives, public pressure for greater safety following the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, and Shell’s series of failures in the Arctic, the federal government placed significant regulatory restrictions on Shell’s permits.

 

Thanks for asking about Bernie Sanders' accomplishments CVille Dem.  Here are a few.

Last year, he won the Veterans of Foreign Wars award for best member of Congress.  Here's the announcement:

With eight years on the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee — two of them as chairman — it is no understatement to say that Senator Sanders has taken care of wounded, ill and injured veterans and their surviving family members,” said Stroud. “He has been a commanding voice against changing the COLA calculations for disabled veterans, for the proper care and treatment of women veterans, homeless veterans, for better employment opportunities and improved access to mental health programs, as well as increased congressional oversight of the VA claims processing transformation,” he said.  

“And when the VA imploded last year, he was the lead negotiator for the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act, which the president signed into law last summer,” said the VFW national commander. “The VA still has an uphill climb to fix what’s broken, to hold employees appropriately accountable, and to restore the faith of veterans in their VA, but veterans everywhere should be proud and comforted to know that this United States senator has their back in Congress.” 

Given how much Sanders talks about single-payer healthcare, you'd think he played at least some role when the Affordable Care Act was being legislated.  He did.  As Common Dreams noted on December 19, 2009:

A $10 billion investment in community health centers, expected to go to $14 billion when Congress completes work on health care reform legislation, was included in a final series of changes to the Senate bill unveiled today.

The provision, which would provide primary care for 25 million more Americans, was requested by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

It turns out these centers have been so important to the success of the program, President Obama announced last year that the opening of "hundreds [more] community health centers in underserved areas nationwide with funding from the Affordable Care Act."

These days, progressive legislators don't always have the opportunity to make a significant mark since passing laws that benefit the public has become increasingly tricky given the influence of big money over the system.  Still Sanders has obviously made a difference for veterans and communities without adequate numbers of healthcare providers.  When he was Mayor of Burlington in 80s, he pushed successfully a number of initiatives that made the city a better place to live for rich and poor alike.   The Nation Magazine details these in What Kind of Mayor was Bernie Sanders.  Here are just a few highlights:

[In order to prevent low-income housing from being converted to more expensive condos,] Sanders. . . worked with the state government and Senator Patrick Leahy to get the $12 million needed to purchase and rehabilitate the buildings.  The city allocated funds to help the tenants hire an organizer, form the Northgate Residents Association, and start the process of converting the complex to resident ownership. Today, Northgate Apartments is owned by the tenants and has long-term restrictions to keep the buildings affordable for working families.

. . .

 Thanks to the enduring influence of the progressive climate that Sanders and his allies helped to create in Burlington, the city’s largest housing development is now resident-owned, its largest supermarket is a consumer-owned cooperative, one of its largest private employers is worker-owned, and most of its people-oriented waterfront is publicly owned. Its publicly owned utility, the Burlington Electric Department, recently announced that Burlington is the first American city of any decent size to run entirely on renewable electricity.

. . .

 Thanks to Sanders, the Burlington waterfront now has a community boathouse and other facilities for small boats. There’s also a sailing center and science center, a fishing pier, an eight-mile bike path, acres of parkland, and public beaches. The commercial development is modest and small-scale. On May 26, Sanders kicked off his presidential campaign with a rally at Waterfront Park.

. . .

Under Sanders, Burlington became a magnet for attracting and incubating locally owned businesses, many of which expanded into large enterprises. Burton, the nation’s largest snowboard company, has its headquarters (as well as a snowboard museum) in Burlington.