Enviros challenge Shell exploration plan

Environmental groups have asked the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to review the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s May 11 approval of Shell’s Chukchi Sea exploration plan.

The petition for review was filed by Earthjustice June 2 on behalf of the Alaska Wilderness League, Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, National Audubon Society, Natural Resources Defense Council, Northern Alaska Environmental Center, Pacific Environment, Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands (REDOIL), Sierra Club and The Wilderness Society.

BOEM’s conditional approval is for Shell to drill as many as six exploration wells in the Chukchi Sea starting this year. The approval is subject to conditions including Shell obtaining all of the permits needed for its operations and the company complying with requirements of the Marine Mammals Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act. In the petition for review, filed against Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and BOEM, petitioners say they “are conservation and Alaska Native groups whose members use and enjoy the affected areas,” and are “affected adversely and aggrieved by the decision to approve” Shell’s Chukchi Sea exploration plan.

- Petroleum News