Environmental groups to challenge Arctic lease sale again
Source: Yahoo! News / AP
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A dozen environmental groups told a federal court Monday they are renewing a challenge to the 2008 federal petroleum lease sale off Alaska's northwest shore, where Royal Dutch Shell PLC hopes to drill exploratory wells this summer.
The groups have twice obtained court rulings that said environmental analysis preceding the Chukchi Sea sale was flawed. The Department of Interior in March concluded that it had corrected mistakes.
Erik Grafe, an attorney for Earthjustice, said by phone Monday the environmental groups disagree and will lay out their claims in a future court filing.
The 2008 sale sold leases on 2.76 million acres, or 4,312 square miles (11,168 square kilometers), and brought in $2.7 billion for the federal government. Shell spent $2.1 billion on high bids and began exploratory drilling in 2012. It has since spent upward of $7 billon, including the cost of staging drilling vessels and a support fleet in Seattle for the 2015 open water season.
Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/environmental-groups-challenge-arctic-lease-sale-again-001648742.html
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