Groups sue to stop Beaufort Sea drilling

Dan Joling

Associated Press Writer

A group that helps manage Eskimo whaling in Alaska has sued to halt petroleum drilling proposed next year in the Beaufort Sea by a subsidiary of Shell Oil.

The Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission and the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope, a federally recognized tribal government representing Alaska North Slope communities, asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Dec. 15 to overturn a drilling plan approved in October by the Minerals Management Service.

The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco, says MMS failed to consider the cumulative effects on bowhead whales of plans by Shell Gulf of Mexico Inc. to drill in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska’s northwest coast and the Beaufort Sea off the northern coast.

“Shell wants to drill wells and drive its fleet of vessels straight through the bowhead whale migration,” said George Edwardson, president of ICAS, in a prepared statement. “What happens if there is a major oil spill? We have an obligation to protect our people.”

Harry Brower, chairman of the whaling commission, said he understands that people want oil and gas.

“But the government and the offshore operators need to understand that development has to be done in a way that does not threaten our subsistence livelihood and culture,” he said. “We depend on the bowhead whale for food.”

The commission represents 11 coastal subsistence whaling villages and co-manages the bowhead whale subsistence hunt under a cooperative agreement with the federal government.

MMS spokesman Nicholas Pardi said the agency had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment.

Shell Alaska spokesman Curtis Smith said MMS was thorough in its technical and environmental evaluation.

“Shell has demonstrated its ability to operate in the Arctic in an environmentally responsible manner,” he said in an e-mail. “We fully expect MMS to be successful in defending its approval.”

He said Shell has gone to great lengths to minimize the impact of its drilling program, including a voluntary shutdown during the fall subsistence whaling harvest by the villages of Nuiqsut and Kaktovik, installing best available discharge technology and reducing the number of wells.

“These steps were taken after considering direct feedback from North Slope stakeholders,” he said.

MMS in October approved Shell’s Beaufort plan for two wells. The agency last week conditionally approved a Shell drilling plan for up to three exploratory wells in the Chukchi Sea. For both projects, Shell proposes exploratory drilling in open water using a 500-foot drill ship, an ice management vessel, an ice class anchor handling vessel and oil spill response vessels.

Shell’s Beaufort offshore drilling has been challenged before.

In 2007, MMS approved Shell’s drilling program, but the 9th Circuit stopped it, ruling that MMS failed to disclose potential impacts to the bowhead whale and subsistence communities. Shell eventually withdrew the plan.

Shell’s new plan received a cursory environmental assessment, according to the groups.

Brower said Shell agreed to hunters’ requests for a halt in operations during the bowhead whale subsistence hunt by Nuiqsut and Kaktovik.

“Even though this proposal has some protection for our hunting, it would allow Shell to dump thousands of barrels of drilling muds, cuttings, and other waste into Camden Bay, including cooling water full of biocides. Our whales feed and rest in Camden Bay, and care for their young there. We are very concerned that these discharges will harm the whales.”

Edwardson said the project has gotten worse since 2007.

The groups are represented by Chris Winter of Crag Law Center in Portland, Ore.

NSB not part of suits against MMS

“This is the first time that the Minerals Management Service has required a shutdown of drilling activities during our fall hunt of the bowhead whale,” NSB Mayor Edward Itta said in a statement. “The certainty of this protection is a positive stop. The whalers in Barrow, Nuiqsut and Kaktovik can rest assured that their fall hunt will not be interrupted by Shell’s industrial noise.”

The borough said the scope of exploration conditionally approved by MMS in October was significantly scaled back from the company’s originally plan and Itta said he gives Shell “credit for responding to some of our concerns.”

But Itta said a number of permits and issues remain — noise, air and water pollution issues and whalers’ concerns about cow-calf pairs diverted from Camden Bay feeding due to industrial noise.

“We expect a huge company like Shell to clear the bar with room to spare,” Itta said. “We need them to provide robust protections, not just minimums. That’s why we continue to engage with them and the agencies. I think we’re making progress. I’d rather work it out this way if we can.”

Call for more safeguards

“Why should North Slope residents expect anything less than the protections afforded other Alaska residents,” he asked.

He said the U.S. Coast Guard has a very limited presence in the Arctic, while it provides ample coverage in Southeast, the Gulf of Alaska and Southwest Alaska.

Itta also said the Arctic needs state-licensed marine pilots on certain vessels, as is required in other Alaska waters.

The Science Advisory Committee at the University of Alaska Fairbanks will meet in January to advise Itta on recommendations for reducing industrial discharge into the water. The borough said Shell has agreed to accept the committee’s recommendations as its guidelines for discharge.

“Ocean discharge is a real bone of contention for us, and Shell’s decision to live by the SAC’s recommendations is an important step,” Itta said. “I believe we can ultimately get to a plan that works for industry and satisfied our deepest concerns.”

—Petroleum News