Courthouse News Service
By PURNA NEMANI
ANCHORAGE (CN) – Shell oil sued 13 leading environmental groups, seeking a Federal Court order declaring it legally authorized to proceed with Arctic Ocean drilling this summer, despite the groups’ complaints.
An Anchorage federal judge in March granted Shell a protective order preventing Greenpeace from interfering in Shell’s plans to explore offshore oil and gas leases in the Arctic.
U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason granted Shell’s request two days after Greenpeace members boarded its drilling vessel, the Noble Discoverer, to protest and try to prevent it from drilling in the Arctic.