New lawsuit planned against seven-year-old Arctic drilling auction

A 2008 government sale of Arctic drilling leases to Shell and other companies is set to face fresh scrutiny in the federal courts, with a dozen environmental and Alaskan groups preparing to file a new challenge to the auction. At issue is Interior Secretary Sally Jewell’s March decision to affirm the long-disputed Chukchi Sea lease sale, after federal regulators conducted a court-ordered reassessment of how much crude could be recovered from drilling rights that were on the auction block. The environmental groups planning to challenge Jewell’s move say the Interior Department paid short shrift to the potential damage that drilling activities under those auctioned leases could pose to Pacific walruses in the Hanna Shoal area of the Chukchi Sea. And, they argue that the decision to affirm the auction runs afoul of the Obama administration’s vow to combat climate change, because it would unleash new fossil fuels — including 4.3 billion barrels of oil estimated to be contained in the Chukchi Sea leases — and the greenhouse gases produced when they are burned...more