Shell’s Alaska Oil Plan Contested by Inupiat Village, Groups

Bloomberg reported that Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s (NYSE:RDS.A) U.S. approval for oil exploration in Alaska’s Beaufort Sea is being contested by groups including the Natural Resources Defense Council and an Inupiat village on concern over the risk of spills.

The market news is quoted as saying:

The Natural Resources Defense Council, based in New York, and Point Hope, a settlement on Alaska’s North Slope, were among a team that sued the Interior Department for deciding to allow the drilling, Holly Harris, an attorney for the environmental law firm Earthjustice, said today on a conference call with reporters.

Shell’s plan for the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, which are estimated to hold about 25 billion barrels of oil, have been delayed by environmental groups, North Slope residents and the administration over concerns that a spill may kill polar bears and hurt bowhead whales, key to the North Slope subsistence lifestyle. A federal appeals court in 2007 halted Shell’s Chukchi work in response to complaints from the groups.

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