Alaska Dispatch | Sep 21, 2011
Environmental groups say they’re reviewing air quality permits approved Monday by the federal government for Shell Oil, which hopes to drill offshore next year in Alaska’s Arctic.
The Environmental Protection Agency authorized air emissions from Shell’s drill ship Discover and a support fleet of icebreakers, oil spill response vessels and supply ships to operate 120 days a year in Alaska’s Chukchi and Beaufort seas.
According to reports by Dow Jones and Reuters, Shell could face additional legal challenges over the permits, the approval of which marked a “major milestone” in oil multinational’s multi-year, billion dollar Arctic offshore drilling quest.