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Lawsuit filed to block Arctic seismic Earthjustice represents environmental, Alaska Native groups in litigation challenging federal permits issued to Shell and BP Rose Ragsdale For Petroleum News
A coalition of environmentalists and Alaska Natives filed a lawsuit May 5 in federal district court in Anchorage aimed at blocking seismic surveys planned by Shell and BP for this summer and fall in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas.
Earthjustice, a public interest law firm, filed the suit on behalf of Alaska Wilderness League, Center for Biological Diversity, Natural Resources Defense Council, Pacific Environment, Native Village of Point Hope and REDOIL.
The group claims the U.S. Minerals Management Service violated provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act by prematurely issuing federal permits for the surveys before completing environmental impact statements for the work.
In a 20-page complaint coupled with a motion to halt the work until a court ruling, the plaintiffs further allege that the National Marine Fisheries Service violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act by allowing Shell to “take” by harassment several species of seals and whales during the seismic surveys.
They also claimed that the fisheries service will likely issue more permits to allow Shell, BP, and several other companies to harass seals and whales throughout this summer and fall.
Noise carries underwater “Seismic work involves the use of underwater air guns that generate extremely loud noise — a single blast is 10 times louder than a rocket launch, and the blasts occur every 10 to 15 seconds for days, weeks and even months at a time,” Earthjustice said May 5 in a statement.
The group contends that these sounds carry through the water for hundreds of miles and have been known to cause permanent hearing loss in marine mammals and disruptions in feeding, migration, social bonding, and predator avoidance behavior and are linked to stranded whales.
“They also can interfere with Native Alaskans’ ability to hunt for these subsistence food sources, particularly the bowhead whale,” the law firm said.
Charles Clusen, director of the Alaska project for the Natural Resources Defense Council, called the oil and gas exploration activity “devastating.”
“You end up killing animals that Americans care deeply about, while not doing a thing to lower the price of gas at the pump. Shell and BP say they’re investing in renewable energy, yet here they are exploiting what we will show are illegally granted permits to reinvest billions in the dirty fuels of the past to ensure Americans stay addicted to oil,” Clusen said in the statement.
No proof of harm But MMS and NFMS have received no documented instances of the seismic surveys conducted by Shell and BP causing harm to any marine mammals, according to Robin Cacy, an MMS spokeswoman in Alaska.
Cacy said MMS reviewed permit applications for the seismic work from Shell and BP last fall and issued permits for the surveys in February and March.
“Our leasing office evaluated the applications and prepared environmental assessments” for the projects, she told Petroleum News May 7. “We found no significant impact on the environment and issued the permits.”
Native observers, aerial surveillance Shell spokesman Curtis Smith said the company was successful in conducting seismic programs in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas in 2006 and 2007 without any recordable safety incidents or known negative impact to the environment or local communities.
“We will continue to do so in 2008, while meeting or exceeding all regulatory requirements,” Smith said May 7. “Shell will once again employ Native Marine Mammals Observers on all seismic and support vessels. We also will rely on aerial (surveillance) to detect marine mammals should they enter the safety zone. When spotted, we will ramp down our operations until they move on.”
BP declined to comment on the lawsuit. But spokesman Steve Rinehart said the company plans to conduct one seismic survey this year for its 100-million-barrel Liberty project over an area inside the barrier islands of the Beaufort Sea and well south of annual migratory paths of whales. Also, the work is planned for July, well before the start of the whales’ migratory season, he added.
Cacy said the oil companies must maintain observers on their seismic survey vessels to ensure that they comply with federal requirements that they shut down operations whenever a marine mammal enters the “exclusion zone” around a boat.
She also said the agencies received no reports of harm to marine mammals during the 2006 and 2007 seismic programs.
Earthjustice noted that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in separate litigation in September issued a temporary injunction blocking Shell from drilling for oil in the Beaufort Sea because of risks to polar bears and endangered whales. The parties are waiting for a final ruling in that case.
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