ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Two environmental groups say cold-water corals discovered near a proposed Shell Oil drilling site in the Chukchi Sea deserve additional review, but the company contends they have been studied and are not threatened.
Greenpeace USA and the Center for Biological Diversity in a letter Thursday called on Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to block drilling until the department conducts a supplemental environmental review of potential damage to the corals.
Shell hopes to drill at least one exploratory well this year during the summer open water season. Environmental groups have strongly opposed drilling, claiming too little is known about the Arctic ecosystem and that petroleum companies have not demonstrated they can clean up a spill in ice-choked waters.
Shell spokesman Curtis Smith said by email that additional study of corals is not necessary.
“The soft coral they’re touting are very common throughout the Chukchi and other areas, as well,” he said. “They are well-known to be patchy and are not unique to the Arctic. When impacted, they return within months.”
Soft coral, he said, was documented and analyzed in previous environmental work.
Theresa Eisenman, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, said last month that BOEM decisions on Shell’s Chukchi exploration plan were based on years of comprehensive study and analyses of the potential effects of offshore activity, including seafloor habitats.
“These environmental studies, which included the development of information regarding the presence of Arctic corals, were specifically considered in evaluating the footprint of Shell’s proposed activities,” she said by email.
The environmental groups contend that national law requires supplemental review if significant new information appears and that sea raspberry corals fit that description. They say cold weather corals provide three-dimensional habitat on sea floor that’s often otherwise barren.
“Before letting Shell drill in the fragile Arctic, we ought to at least fully understand the risks to wildlife, including these corals,” said Rebecca Noblin, Alaska director of the Center for Biological Diversity, in the announcement of the letter.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
