The independent appeals board of the Environmental Protection Agency have upheld final air pollution permits required by Royal Dutch Shell to launch a drilling project in the Arctic waters off the coast of Alaska this summer.
The Environmental Appeals Board rejected the challenge os environmentalists to the permits that the EPA had issued Shell to operate the Kulluk drilling unit. Achieving the usable air permit for the drilling unit meant that Shell has obtained all of the necessary air permits to work in the Alaska offshore for the first time. The appeals board similarly denied challenges of green groups to permits for operating the Noble Discoverer drillship, 10 weeks prior to this.
The permits for both drillships were challenged by groups such as the Inupiat Community of the Arctic Slope, the Alaska Wilderness League, The Wilderness Society and the Center for Biological Diversity. This decision marks the latest of several obstacles that Shell has passed in recent months in its quest to drill off Alaska’s northern coast in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. The company still needs federal approvals including drilling permits from the Interior Department to begin work in the federal waters off Alaska.