Despite Court's Decision, Groups Vow to Continue to Fight Shell's Arctic Drilling
Arctic Ocean drilling scheduled for July in spite of Gulf spill
Contacts
Caroline Cannon, Native Village of Point Hope, (907) 830-2727
George Edwardson, Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope, (907) 444-7240
Emilie Surrusco, Alaska Wilderness League, (202) 544-5205
Rebecca Noblin, Center for Biological Diversity, (907) 274-1110
Caitlin Leutwiler, Defenders of Wildlife, (202) 772-3226　
Eric Grafe, Earthjustice, (907) 586-2751
Frank Ameduri, Oceana, (907) 586-8314
Andrew Hartsig, Ocean Conservancy, (907) 229-1690
Pam Miller, Northern Alaska Environmental Center, (907) 452-5021
Carole Holley, Pacific Environment, (907) 277-1029
Kristina Johnson, Sierra Club, (415) 977-5619
This is a statement from the below-listed groups:
"We are very disappointed in today’s ruling by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals allowing Shell Oil’s offshore Arctic drilling permits to stand. However the court was evaluating a decision made before the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico happened. We believe that the new issues this incident has brought to light offer even more evidence that Shell must not proceed with plans for exploratory drilling in the Arctic’s Chukchi and Beaufort Seas this summer.
"With 48 days to go before Shell is slated to move forward, we will continue to press our request to the Obama administration to re-evaluate its approval of the Shell drilling plans in light of the Gulf spill and to suspend drilling.
"We knew the drilling was risky even before the massive failure in the Gulf once again exposed that it’s a dirty and dangerous business. With limited capacity to respond to potential spills and icy, harsh conditions, the Arctic is no place to take our next drilling gamble, especially when there are still so many unknowns — in the Arctic and in the Gulf."
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