In an attempt to thwart future opposition to two oil-spill response plans for drilling in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, Shell filed a lawsuit against groups like the Sierra Club, Greenpeace and the Centre for Biological Diversity in a move designed to block any future lawsuits that could endanger the operator's own exploratory drilling.
Shortly after Shell's spill response plans were approved by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) in 2012, Shell filed the lawsuit in an attempt to win a pre-emptive ruling upholding the Administration Procedures Act.
The
