Ninth Circuit Bans Shell Drilling Project in Alaska (Commie environmentalist alert)

The New York Times ^ | November 20, 2008 | Jad Mouawad

[St. Louis Conservative]

A federal appeals court on Thursday blocked Royal Dutch Shell from drilling oil wells off Alaska’s North Slope after finding that the Interior Department had failed to conduct an environmental study before issuing the company’s drilling permit.

In a long-awaited ruling, the court said that the Minerals Management Service, the federal agency in charge of offshore leasing, had violated the 1970 National Environmental Policy Act by failing to take a “hard look” at the impact that offshore drilling would have on bowhead whales in the Beaufort Sea as well as indigenous communities on the North Slope.

The decision canceled Shell’s permit to drill at a prospect called Sivulliq, about 16 miles off northern Alaska, and ordered the agency to begin the process from scratch.

“There remain substantial questions as to whether Shell’s plan may cause significant harm to the people and wildlife of the Beaufort Sea region,” the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, in San Francisco, said in its ruling. One judge, Carlos T. Bea, on the three-judge panel dissented.

Environmental groups, including the Alaska Wilderness League, as well as the North Slope Borough, which represents the indigenous Inupiat people, had sued to stop Shell from drilling, claiming that the company’s plans to send icebreakers, drill ships and vessels to conduct seismic surveys might harm bowheads. The whales migrate through the Beaufort Sea twice a year and are the basis of the Inupiat community’s subsistence culture.

The decision is a costly setback for Shell, which had waged a vigorous campaign to expand offshore exploration in Alaska. The company recently spent $2.1 billion to acquire leases in the Chukchi Sea, after spending $84 million to buy leases in the Beaufort Sea. The company said it would review its options.

[St. Louis Conservative]

I can't say this is surprising coming from the Ninth Circus, however, I fear it is a harbinger of things to come from Obama appointed judges as well as the Obama EPA and Dep of Interior, both of which are sure to stuffed with Greenies eager to put the oil industry out of business.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

There’s no end to this crap.

[Da Coyote]

I’m moving to the first state that tells the environmentalists and - especially - the supreme lame law idiots - to f**k themselves.

[ChiMark]

Can there be a recall of these judges?

[Brizick]

There’s no end to this crap.

Ain't that the truth.  I want my country back!

[St. Louis Conservative]

Try Texas and/or Oklahoma.

[freespirited]

I am so sick of these pukes.

[Valpal1]

No, the 9th Circus is an appointed federal court. Not an elected state court.

Shell can appeal to the USSC or give up.

[blackbart.223]

"There’s no end to this crap."

Hang on. It will get worse.

[DemonDeac]

What is the compision of that court in terms of R and D appointments?

[sheikdetailfeather]

The enemy within prevents us from our own resources as they tax us into the ground and take our money for bailouts. I say SCREW THEM ALL.

[timestax]

It's not going to be fun finding a store with food, and then bringing the food home via a bicycle. Especially in the winter or during rainstorms!

[rdl6989]

The thought of the words “Obama court appointees” makes my stomach turn.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

I hate to state the obvious but I still looking forward to the day when sheeple finally catch on to the enviormentalist’s scams. It’s not going to be pretty.

[dalereed]

Shell should appeal it since about 80% or better of the Ninth Circus rulings are overturned.

[FreeRadical]

Figures I’d see this headline whilst watching “Whale Wars” on one of the indoctrination channels.

In addition to this bad news about the Beaufort Sea effort we Alaskans are gonna have real hell getting the gas pipeline permitted now that hussein and his ho’s have some power. I think there is still a lot of power in favor of a gasline, but obviously the tide against has been bolstered.

ANWR is probably completely off the radar for the foreseeable future. The Senate numbers are hosed and compounding that, Begich, the new Senator from AK, who claims he is for ANWR, will be in for a rude awakening in Washington. Reid and the team will gang rape him with their leftist power tools and Begich will not only enjoy it, he’ll be lost to the dark side forever.

I hope I am wrong, but btwn courts and legislators, I don’t feel real good about Alaska’s resource development in the coming years.

And, meanwhile, the Whale Wars show keeps churning on. These eco terrorists should be dead for piracy. Instead, they’ve got a whole TV show championing their idiocy.

[Rome2000]

Not just the oil companies.

The market is saying loud and clear what it thinks about the HUSSEIN economy.

[ricks_place]

Barriers to productive work, work that actually produces some real good or service, are destroying the economy. Wonder if economist consider the expenditures of the Sierra Club, ALF, ELF, Greenpeace, etc as negative of positive contributions to GDP.

[Bean Counter]

“In a long-awaited ruling, the court said that the Minerals Management Service, the federal agency in charge of offshore leasing, had violated the 1970 National Environmental Policy Act by failing to take a “hard look” at the impact that offshore drilling would have on bowhead whales in the Beaufort Sea as well as indigenous communities on the North Slope.”

And if Shell had studied the effect on bowhead whales, they would have been accused of neglecting shrimp, or flatfish, or crabs, or plankton, or any other damned thing the environmentalists could dredge up.

There is simply no end to the creative ways Evironmentalists can block all drilling.

[Avatar910]

Both the author of the Majority Opinion, Dorothy Nelson as well as Stephen Reinhardt (author the Pledge of Allegiance opinion) were appointed by Jimmy carter to posts specifically created during the court expansion of the 1970s. The dissent was written by Judge Carlos Bea, initially nominated by George H.W. Bush for the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, but his nomination was stalled in the waning days of that administration. He was renominated and appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit by George W. Bush. Only Justice Bea had any trial court experience before being appointed to the Ninth Circuit (he was San Francisco Superior Court Judge known to be a stickler for evidence and to be courteous to the jurors).

Next step could be a request for hearing en banc before appealing to the Supreme Court of the United States. haven't read the opinion, but likely that given the opinion that the Supreme Court recently issued vis-a-vis the Navy's use of sonar I might file a petition for cert with the Supreme Court rather than wasting my time with an en banc panel.