Description: Challenge to regulations authorizing take of Pacific walruses incidental to offshore oil and gas operations.
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Alaska Wilderness League v. Jewell
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 12/31/2015 Order Download Order issued dismissing appeal. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the appeal as moot after Shell announced that it would "cease further exploration activity in offshore Alaska for the foreseeable future.” The Ninth Circuit said that "dramatic changes in circumstances have rendered remote and speculative the possibility that any oil and gas exploration activity will occur ... in the less than three years" remaining before the regulation expired. 08/10/2015 Order Download Order issued. Ninth Circuit Denied Stay of Shell’s Arctic Offshore Oil Exploration Plan, But Put Case on Expedited Schedule. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals declined to stay the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s approval of Shell’s offshore oil exploration plan for the Chukchi Sea off the coast of Alaska while a challenge to the approval is pending. The denial of the injunction was without prejudice to renewal before a merits panel. The Ninth Circuit also sua sponte expedited the appeal. The plaintiffs’ claims focus on the plan’s impact on wildlife and cites the “dramatic negative” effects of climate change on the Chukchi Sea habitat. 07/28/2015 Motion Download Emergency motion filed seeking stay of incidental take regulation pending appeal. -
Alaska Wilderness League v. Jewell
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 07/23/2015 Order Download Motion for injunction pending appeal denied. 07/22/2015 Reply Download Reply filed by plaintiffs in support of motion for injunction pending appeal. 07/08/2015 Motion Download Motion for injunction pending appeal filed by plaintiffs. 07/02/2015 Order Download Order regarding cross-motions for summary judgment issued. The court upheld the regulation authorizing incidental take of Pacific walruses, including the issuance of a finding of no significant impact. 11/10/2014 Complaint Download Complaint filed. Environmental groups filed a complaint in the federal district court for the District of Columbia to challenge a regulation that permitted the incidental take of Pacific walruses in connection with offshore oil exploration activities in the Chukchi Sea off the Alaskan coast. The permit was issued under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The plaintiffs also alleged that the permit's issuance violated the National Environmental Policy Act. The plaintiffs contended, among other things, that the regulation would allow the oil industry to exacerbate stresses Pacific walruses were already experiencing due to the melting of sea ice "at unprecedented rates due to human-induced climate change." The plaintiffs said that the regulation improperly deferred analysis and mitigation of impacts on the walruses. The action was transferred to the District for Alaska.