The federal District Court in Alaska has amended its injunction against Greenpeace, banning the environmental activist group from interfering with Shell’s vessels participating in the company’s planned 2012 exploration drilling in Alaska’s Beaufort and Chukchi seas.
In March the court banned Greenpeace from occupying any of a list of 19 vessels that Shell plans to use, with the injunction applying until Oct. 31. That injunction only applied while the vessels are located in U.S. ports and waters, with the court deferring a ruling over whether court jurisdiction applies to the U.S. exclusive economic zone, or EEZ, and to certain facilities in the town of Barrow.
Shell’s planned drilling sites are in the EEZ, while the company will need to use onshore facilities in support of its operations.
Today’s amended injunction extends the original injunction to include the EEZ, as well as to include a hangar and a passenger terminal at the Barrow airport. The court has also banned Greenpeace activists from the airspace below 3,000 feet within a half nautical mile of Shell vessels with helidecks, and from the same airspace around any other vessel when a helicopter hoisting operation is in progress.
At the end of April Greenpeace appealed the original injunction to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, but that appeal has yet to be resolved.
—Alan Bailey
See story in June 3 issue, available at 11 a.m., Friday, June 1, at www.PetroleumNews.com
