State intervenes in Beaufort Sea litigation

The State of Alaska has filed a motion to intervene in an appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit by the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission and the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope against the U.S. Minerals Management Service approval of Shell’s plan to drill two exploration wells in the Beaufort Sea during the 2010 open water season.

“The state is uniquely positioned to intervene in such cases, in which our economic future is at stake,” said Gov. Sean Parnell on Dec. 18. “Outer Continental Shelf development is critical to the state’s economic future. The state will not sit idly by when responsible attempts to explore and develop these resources are challenged.”

The 9th Circuit lawsuit claims that MMS has not considered the cumulative effects of outer continental shelf drilling in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas on bowhead whales, a key subsistence resource for the Native communities of northern Alaska.

But the state says that Shell’s plan includes extensive mitigation measures to avoid any interference with subsistence hunting and to protect whales and the Arctic environment. And huge estimated oil and gas resources on the northern Alaska outer continental shelf are of immense value to the United States, as well as presenting economic opportunities in Alaska, the state said.

“The state filed this motion to intervene because it has a duty to develop its natural resources, promote economic development and make economic opportunities available to its citizens,” said Attorney General Dan Sullivan. “This balance of interests is unique to the state, and will not be adequately represented by any other party in this appeal.”

Shell also plans to drill up to three wells in the Chukchi Sea in 2010, under a separate exploration plan that has received conditional approval from MMS.

—Alan Bailey