ANCHORAGE — More than a dozen Alaska Native and environmental organizations sued Thursday to block offshore oil drilling in the Beaufort Sea off Alaska’s north coast.
The 13 groups filed the legal challenge to federal approval in August of Shell Oil’s exploration drilling plan with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Earthjustice attorney Holly Harris said in a news teleconference that allowing Shell to drill when it has no credible plan to clean up an Arctic Ocean oil spill is insulting and irresponsible.
The company has said that the chance of a spill during exploration was minimal and that its spill response plan more than meets federal requirements. That plan includes a fleet of response vessels, onshore response and a containment cap that cover a blowout, it said.
But Harris said the company’s contention that it could recover 95 percent of oil spilled from exploratory drilling was preposterous.
“In icy conditions, the agency’s own analysis and drills conducted in Alaska, suggest it could drop to 3 percent or 1 percent, or ultimately, can be completely ineffective with crews just standing by because they literally can’t deploy,” Harris said. “It is, frankly, a hyperbolic claim to suggest, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll clean up 95 percent of it.’”
Melissa Schwartz, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement in Washington, D.C., said the agency would have no response to the lawsuit.
Shell Alaska spokesman Curtis Smith said by phone from New Orleans that the challenge was expected but that the company’s exploration plan deserved approval. “We believe BOEMRE was thorough in its analysis of our plan, and we are confident that their approval of our plan will be validated in court, as it was in May of 2010,” he said.
The company also was confident in its spill response plan, he said.
“We feel we have put in place the most technically sound, environmentally sensitive plan of exploration in the history of North America,” he said. “Our confidence in making a statement like that is informed by our history in Alaska, the planning we have done, the unprecedented oil response plan, and the addition of a capping and containment system very much like the one that ultimately ended the blowout in the Gulf of Mexico.”
Shell wants to drill up to three exploratory wells in the Chukchi Sea and two in the Beaufort Sea in 2012. Arctic Ocean outer continental shelf reserves are estimated by the federal government at 26.6 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 130 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
Shell Alaska has said it has spent upward of $4 billion on leases and development in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas.
Drilling is strongly backed by Alaska officials hoping to find new sources of oil for the trans-Alaska pipeline. But exploration drilling during ice-free months this year was blocked in part by a successful appeal of two air permits issued to Shell in 2010 by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The EPA announced last week it had approved an air quality permit for one of the company’s drilling vessels.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar had suspended Arctic offshore drilling operations after the blowout of BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Salazar has said the federal government will proceed with “utmost caution” in Arctic waters more than 1,000 miles from the nearest Coast Guard base.
Comments (11)
Add commentEarthjustice
"Alaska native groups" should speak for themselves!
Yep!
Here they go again !
Stingy with info...
The AP uses lots of space to advance an argument without using any to tell us whose argument they are reporting. Isn't "who" the first of the 5 (or 6) w's of reporting?
You seem to miss the point of
You seem to miss the point of the article, Pittman, and of journalism in general. A news article should never seek to advance one side of an argument, but to adequately portray all sides. In this case, there is a group of protestors and the Shell corporation. The protestors contend that offshore drilling in the arctic presents too many logistical problems to make emergency response safe; Shell contends that it is safe and that their plan has been appropriately reviewed.
All kinds of very good
All kinds of very good reasons not to have more drilling in the Arctic.There is most definitely a spill response gap and pollution is more of a problem for the Arctic. It breaks down slower than in warmer climates, less light etc.. and so organisms wildlife thus people become accumulators and concentrators of the pollutants
Drilling operations dump tons of pollution into the atmosphere not to mention every where else.
It's too bad that some of the
It's too bad that some of the Alaska Native organizations have been co-opted as tools for the eco terrorists. Nothing more, nothing less. It's always the way with these radicals - target a group and turn them into victims. It's insidious...and Earthjustice is one of the worst.
Good luck Shell, in the 9th Circuit. And people wonder why these oil corporations take their billions of dollars to Africa and S. America. There are better ways to spend money than fighting in the courts.
And Salazar - can't get rid of that guy fast enough.
What is wrong with us???
Holy cow people, forget the comments about Natives being used or co-opted Calypso, I don't know what planet you get your facts from brother but we (us white folk too) eat quite a bit off of the land and what the sea brings in. You could learn quite a bit from the Natives, especially with the rising cost of getting food here to Alaska. Whatever the ecoterrorists think, in this case there is a great point. But I wanted to address two things against what you said...
1. The oil companies that you so support and are so worried will take their businesses elsewhere... AREN'T American companies. They are foreign just like BP. May to take advantage of those federal tax loops so many folks talk about or maybe to evade responsibility when they do screw up like BP! Millions of gallons spewed into the gulf of Mexico while the CEO at BP on the golf course during an interview stated "I just want my life back!". 4 states were affected not only with their coastal wildlife because the sand is now sludge, but tens of thousands of jobs were lost because the fishing is gone. Those were 80 degree waters without 30-45 foot swells or icebergs floating by.
2. After seeing the mess Obama and the operational commander of the USCG made with the media after taking over control of rescue and cleanup operations in the Gulf, it should be painfully clear to EVERYONE that neither the Federal Government or the Oil Companies have anything remotely close to a "beta" copy of a viable spill prevention or response program. So when Shell says "our response policy has been reviewed and approved by the Feds" it makes one want to ask them "what the heck are you smoking?"
Calypso, do you seriously think that Shell drilling in the Beaufort Sea is going to make you or your family money? Do you really believe it's going to put "thousands of hard working Alaskans" back to work? There's already an investigation into the fact that BP, who's been the longest standing oil producer, "hires outside Alaska but is encouraging subcontractors to do more hiring inside Alaska?" (http://juneauempire.com/local/2011-09-09/oil-companies-pledge-more-alask...)
Stop blaming the ecoterrorists when the oil companies clearly don't do anything for us except follow the scorched earth policy. Do you REALLY believe Shell gives a crap about what happens to us if a huge oil spill occurs in our waters? Do you believe they'll rush to our aid and help us restore the natural food chains here that they will have destroyed? Dude, unplug from Fox News, go outside and breath some real air.
The truth is...
...that there isn't technology currently invented that can clean up chunks of floating ice covered with oil in the event of an oil spill in the Arctic in the winter.
So if Shell claims they have a plan and procedure in place, they are lying.
Look what happened when we trusted BP.
Learn by our mistakes.
karn, you're entitled to your
karn, you're entitled to your views. But no fair whining when your standard of living tanks and "you're eating quite a bit off the land". Is that progressive think or REgressive?
Can you name a couple of ways that your life is better because of corporations? I'm thinking you won't beable to because dear government is probably your savior.
Maybe we should just all climb on the couch and sit. Don't want to venture out too far or take even one risk. And I'm sure your definition of risk is different than mine.
What do you suppose BO was talking about when he said this?
"President Obama said Thursday the United States "had gotten a little soft" before he took office and needs to regain its competitive edge in the global economy because opportunities for younger Americans are not as plentiful as they were for their parents." I guess he probably wasn't talking about America being energy independent, huh?
This guy and the progressive ideology has done more to ruin opportunities for all Americans than anyone in recent history. How does he even get out there and blab such nonsense. Does he have any shame - no he doesn't.
Hurry up 2012.
Calypso, you never make any sense!
"Can you name a couple of ways that your life is better because of corporations? I'm thinking you won't beable to because dear government is probably your savior. "
What?!? What do you mean by that?
How is your life better because of corporate profits?
I love how you forget that the economy tanked right before President Obama took office. Regulations, banking practices, and many other factors all contribute. You conservatives give one man waaaaay too much credit for our current situation, my friend.
It's like the debt. President Bush buys a fancy car, or two, (Iraq, Afghanistan) that we are still making massive monthly payments on, and you want to blame the entire debt on the current president? That's asinine.
velcro on those shoes, today?
Earth Muffins on "auto-obstruct" again
I wish they would come up with new and entertaining propaganda. At least it would have entertainment value.
Otherwise, let's turn out the lights, and throw the keys to the Chinese.....
Earthjustice
It's a bit disturbing that Shell would compare its capping an containment system to the one used in the BP oil spill. Yes, it ultimately stopped the oil from leaking, but it took an extremely long time in comparatively calm conditions. The Chukchi and Beaufort Seas are not the Gulf of Mexico, the climate is severe, and the weather volatile. How easily we can forget the consequences of our actions...