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Environmental groups sue Shell over Arctic drilling plans

An environmental group in Alaska has launched a lawsuit to stop Shell from drilling in the Beaufort Sea.

The United States government gave conditional approval last month to the oil company’s plan to drill up to four exploratory wells in the Beaufort next summer.

Holly Harris works for a non-profit environmental organization called Earthjustice. She says Shell is not prepared to clean up an offshore oil spill in the Arctic.

“The Obama administration is rolling the dice with the Arctic and hoping we don’t wake up one morning to watch polar bears swimming through an oil slick in the Beaufort Sea,” she says.

A dozen conservation groups have joined together on the lawsuit, along with the northern Alaskan village of Point Hope.

The US Bureau of ocean energy management, which completed the environmental assessment for Shell's exploration plan, is not commenting on the lawsuit. But earlier this month, its director Michael Bromwich stood by the agency’s decision on Shell’s Beaufort Sea exploration plan, and he emphasized that the approval is conditional.

"That’s contingent on Shell in fact dealing with all the conditions we’ve imposed, and those largely relate to various aspects of how they would deal with a potential spill or blowout," says Bromwich.

Bromwich says Shell will have to demonstrate it has containment resources available.