Environmentalists Go to Court to Stop Arctic Oil Drilling

NOAA Diagram

A coalition of Alaska Native and conservation groups have challenged BOEMRE’s August 4th conditional approval of Shell’s Beaufort Sea exploration plan by appealing to the U.S. Court of  Appeals 9th Circuit Court.  Shell plans to dril four wells in the Beaufort Sea, starting in 2012.

Earthjustice, on behalf of the Native Village of Point Hope, Alaska Wilderness League, Center for Biological Diversity, Defenders of Wildlife, Greenpeace, National Audubon Society, Natural Resources Defense Council, Northern Alaska Environmental Center, Oceana, Pacific Environment, REDOIL, Sierra Club, and The Wilderness Society initiated litigation.

Their arguments are compelling, with some of their keys points being:

• U.S. Coast Guard officials have repeatedly explained that the resources to clean up an oil spill in the waters of the Arctic Ocean simply don’t exist. This summer, Commandant Admiral Robert Papp told Congress that the federal government has “zero” spill response capability in the Arctic.
• A recent report to the Canadian government concluded cleanup would be impossible 44 to 84 percent of the time during the short summer drilling season and completely impossible the other seven to eight months of the year.
• A recent report by the USGS makes clear, basic scientific information about nearly every aspect of the Arctic Ocean ecosystem is missing. This lack of data makes it impossible to adequately assess the risks and impacts of drilling to wildlife and people in the Arctic and, as a result, makes it impossible to make informed, science-based decisions.
• The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is only 12 miles from the drill site.

The court set a deadline of Dec. 19 for submission of the petitioners’ opening brief, with respondents answering briefs due by Jan. 17, 2012.  These dates clearly conflict with Shell’s internal deadline of the end of this month to make their go/no-go decision for the 2012 summer drilling season.  According to an article in the Petroleum News,

The company has said that its deployment decision will depend on the end-of-October status of the various permits that it requires, and that it feels that its permits will be sufficiently robust to withstand legal challenge — in April 2010 the 9th Circuit Court dismissed appeals against the approval of Shell’s 2011 Beaufort Sea and Chukchi Sea exploration plans.

“We feel we have some very strong permits and we feel that there is reason to be optimistic that our permits will survive a court challenge,” Pete Slaiby, Shell’s vice president in Alaska, told Petroleum News . “Litigation will always be a risk we have.”

We will continue to monitor the developments of this case.  If Shell is allowed to continue, will the Arctic soon look like the Gulf of Mexico with its seascape of oil rigs?

NOAA Diagram Gulf Of Mexico-Green Dots = Oil Wells

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Posted by Gordon Smith on Oct 10 2011. Filed under Arctic, Featured Articles, Oil Watch. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.