Appeals court rules against Arctic drilling plan
Excerpts:
Ruling on the first of several major new projects for tapping oil and gas deposits from the Arctic floor, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said the federal government should have prepared a more exhaustive environmental review before concluding that harm to whales, caribou and other Arctic wildlife either would be insignificant or could be mitigated.
…Officials at Shell Offshore Inc., which has proposed to drill up to 12 exploratory wells in the Arctic's Beaufort Sea over the next three years, said they were convinced that the company had "met or exceeded" requirements for environmental analysis — including how noise from exploratory drilling might affect the migration patterns of fish, endangered bowhead whales and caribou, which give birth in the nearby Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
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Sam Goldman
Sam has been with The Wilderness Society since Fall 2007. He came most recently from M+R Strategic Services in Washington, DC where he worked with national environmental groups to improve their online campaign work and field organizing capacity. Before that, Sam was the Assistant National Field Director for U.S. PIRG where he covered a variety of issues including the fight to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
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