Alaska Natives challenge permit for offshore development

Thursday, February 23, 2012  

An Alaska Native organization and environmental groups are fighting a permit that was issued to Shell Oil for off-shore development.

REDOIL, or Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands, says the Environmental Protection Agency took shortcuts in awarding the air quality permit. A challenge was filed with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

"As early as this summer, the Discoverer drillship and other vessels in Shell’s fleet could be in the Chukchi Sea or Beaufort Sea of the Arctic Ocean where they will pump tens of thousands of tons of pollution into pristine Arctic skies. Not only will they be drilling for oil in some of the harshest conditions on earth, each year these ships will emit large amounts of harmful air pollutants such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide and particulate matter. Further, greenhouse gases and black carbon from the Discoverer fleet are expected to accelerate the loss of snow and sea ice in the Arctic, to the detriment of both the fragile Arctic ecosystem and members of Alaska Native communities that rely upon a healthy ecosystem for subsistence and other traditional cultural activities," REDOIL and the environmental groups said in a press release.

The groups have been successful in stopping off-shore development in recent years.

Get the Story:
Environmental, Native groups challenge Shell Arctic air permit (AP 2/22)