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Native Alaskan whalers and conservationists challenge Beaufort Sea drilling
last update: Dec 16, 2009 04:01 PM
From a "Los Angeles Times" article: A group of Native Alaskan whalers have joined forces with a broad range of conservation groups to try and halt Shell Offshore Inc.'s latest plan to conduct exploration drilling next year in the Beaufort Sea.
Alaskan Eskimo (Photo - Luciana Whitaker-Akins, Associated Press)
The plan was already approved by the federal Minerals Management Service, and the arguments against the plan; the endangered bowhead whales would be threatened by allowing an armada of drilling vessels to operate squarely in the bowheads' migration path between July and October 2010 and the group is aksing the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to block the exploratory drilling and order the federal government to more comprehensively consider the potential cumulative effects of the move to drill offshore in both the Beaufort and Chukchi seas.
Harry Brower, chairman of the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission, which along with the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope, filed one of the court challenges in San Francisco said "People want the oil and gas, and we understand that. But the government and the offshore operators need to understand that development has to be done in a way that does not threaten our subsistence livelihood and culture."
The second case was filed by the Native Village of Point Hope, together with 10 environmental protection groups, which include the Alaska Wilderness League, Oceana, Pacific Environment and the Sierra Club. Lawyers for the environmental law firm Earthjustice are handling that case.
Shell officials said the the Minerals Management Service exhaustively studied the possible impacts of drilling before approving the exploration plan, and pledged that all possible protective measures will be taken to ensure there are no oil spills or adverse effects on wildlife. Company spokeswoman Kelly C. op de Weegh said in a statement "Shell has gone to great lengths to minimize the impact of our drilling program, including a voluntary shut-down during the fall subsistence whaling harvest of Nuiqsut and Kaktovik, installing best available discharge technology, and reducing the number of wells. These steps were taken after considering direct feedback from North Slope stakeholders."
Read more:
Los Angeles Times, 15th December 2009
