Now that the presidential race is over, and we can go back to talking about Alaska without mentioning Wasilla or anyone that comes from there, I can instead tell you that today an appellate judge ruled that federal regulators improperly granted Shell Oil permission for offshore drilling, and ordered that the project be halted. Says the Associated Press (via MSNBC):

‘This decision confirms that the Bush administration rushed to approve Shell’s drilling program in the Arctic Ocean without a full review of impacts to whales and the subsistence way of life for people in the region,’ said Eric Jorgensen, an attorney for EarthJustice, which represented some clients in the case.

The Minerals Management Service, which grants such permission, now has to reconsider its decision, and is pretty unhappy about doing so. They tend to think the $300 million they’ve spent on environmental studies in the past 30 years should cover it.

MMS spokesman David Smith said agency officials were disappointed by the ruling. The agency produced a nearly 1,600-page environmental impact statement and other reviews. ‘These extensively analyzed potential impacts to wildlife, including the bowhead whale and subsistence activities,’ he said. ‘We believe that MMS did conduct the required ‘hard look’ to see if an environmental impact statement was necessary.’

This obviously will delay the “drill here drill now” solution to the oil situation. Too bad, too, cause that means now we have to go to war with Iran, or something. I’m still confused about the politics here.

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