Environmental Groups File Lawsuit Challenging Shell Oil’s Risky and Reckless Arctic Drilling Plan

Agency gave Shell the stamp of approval to drill in fragile Arctic Ocean, despite threats

Interior unlawfully approved Shell’s problem-riddled Arctic drilling plan. In doing this, it has failed the communities and wildlife of this region.
Erik Grafe
Staff Attorney, Earthjustice

http://earthjustice.org/news/press/2015/environmental-groups-file-lawsuit-challenging-shell-oil-s-risky-and-reckless-arctic-drilling-plan

June 2, 2015
Anchorage, AK —

An alliance of environmental and Alaska-based community groups are challenging the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s approval of Shell’s oil exploration plan for drilling this summer in the Chukchi Sea.

Earthjustice filed a lawsuit today in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of Alaska Wilderness League, Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, National Audubon Society, Natural Resources Defense Council, Northern Alaska Environmental Center, Pacific Environment, Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands (REDOIL), Sierra Club, and The Wilderness Society to challenge approval of Shell’s exploration plan. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management greenlighted Shell’s plan in May, paving the way for the oil giant to drill in the Arctic Ocean’s Chukchi Sea starting as soon as July.

See also

the 52 page review from the Department of the Interior, Secretary Salazar, 2013
Review of Shell’s 2012 Alaska Offshore Exploration Program, Report to the Department of the Interior, March 8, 2013, 52pp

http://www.doi.gov/news/pressreleases/upload/Shell-report-3-8-13-Final.pdf

and from earthjustice.org

http://earthjustice.org/cases/2015/challenging-shell-oil-s-arctic-chukchi-sea-exploration-plan