Description: Challenge to two permits issued by EPA to Shell for offshore Arctic drilling operations.
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Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands v. EPA
Case Documents:
Filing Date Type File Action Taken Summary 04/23/2013 Opinion Download Petition for review denied. 02/17/2012 Petition for Review Petition for review filed. Several environmental and Alaska Native groups filed an action in the Ninth Circuit seeking to overturn two air quality permits issued by EPA to Shell for offshore Arctic drilling operations. The permits allowed a ship owned by Shell and several support vessels to operate in both the Chukchi Sea and the Beaufort Sea. The authorizations were “major source” permits, which allowed Shell to emit more than 250 tons of pollutants annually and to adhere to the Clean Air Act’s prevention of significant deterioration requirements. Among other things, the plaintiffs contended that greenhouse gases and black carbon from the ships would accelerate the loss of snow and sea ice in the Arctic, to the detriment of members of the Alaska Native communities.