Shell asks court to declare IHAs valid

In the latest of a series of court actions designed to pre-empt last minute litigation against its planned Arctic outer continental shelf drilling this year, Shell has filed a petition with the federal District Court in Alaska, asking the court to rule that the National Marine Fisheries Service properly issued incidental harassment authorizations, or IHAs, for Shell’s drilling operations.

The IHAs mandate measures that Shell must take to avoid disturbing marine mammals or subsistence hunting when drilling in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, while also allowing the accidental disturbance of small numbers of marine mammals without the company running afoul of the Marine Mammals Protection Act.

The court petition targets 14 environmental groups which Shell says oppose the company’s Arctic drilling plans and which the company says have a track record of appealing permit decisions.

“Their prior statements and past practice make it a virtual certainty that they will litigate the approval of the IHAs,” wrote attorney Kyle Parker in Shell’s petition, filed May 3. Shell’s pre-emptive court action will provide the court with sufficient time to make a reasoned evaluation of the Fisheries Service decision, Parker wrote. Shell plans to start its initial drilling operations in July in the Chukchi Sea. The company has already filed a similar petition with the District Court, asking the court to affirm approval of the company’s oil spill response plans by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit is already considering appeals by environmental groups and some Native organizations against the approval of Shell’s Chukchi Sea and Beaufort Sea exploration plans, against the air permit for the Noble Discoverer drillship that Shell plans to use, and against the lease sale in which Shell obtained its Chukchi Sea leases.

—Alan Bailey

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