The petitioners who have appealed the U.S. Minerals Management Service approval of Shell’s Beaufort Sea exploration plan have asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit to extend the deadline for a response to Shell’s request that the court lift its injunction on the company’s Beaufort Sea drilling. Shell filed its request on Oct. 30.
Three separate appeals have been consolidated into the 9th Circuit case. And according to Earthjustice, the law firm representing the various petitioners, Shell did not serve notice of its request simultaneously to all petitioners. Earthjustice wants the deadline date for responding to Shell’s request to key off the date issue of the later of Shell’s notices. The petitioners also want adequate time to prepare a joint response, Earthjustice says.
Based on the later notification date, the deadline for a response would be Nov. 17. However, Earthjustice has requested an extension to Nov. 21 “to respond fully to the number of substantive issues raised in Shell’s motion, to accommodate the extra coordination required to prepare a joint response and because of Petitioners’ conflicting deadlines for other matters pending in this Court.”
Shell has requested that the court lift its injunction on Beaufort Sea drilling because, the company says, circumstances surrounding the drilling have changes since the injunction was imposed. On Nov. 6 the U.S. Department of the Interior filed a response supporting Shell’s request.
See full story in Nov. 16 issue of Petroleum News, available to subscribers online at noon, Friday, Nov. 14, at www.PetroleumNews.com
