(
9:44 PM UPDATE: Foss’s appeal document added, after coverage of 75 speakers at Port Commission meeting, followed by commissioners passing both motions – as Shell drillship Noble Discoverer arrived in Everett)
12:58 PM: Just as Seattle port commissioners are about to start their meeting on the controversial Terminal 5 lease to Foss/Shell, we received that photo of one of the Shell offshore-drilling rigs that is expected to wind up here for a while: The
Noble Discoverer, which, as we reported earlier, entered Washington waters early today.
Jason Mihok photographed the ND (and Foss tugs) as they passed Port Townsend – he was on board the Victoria Clipper. Meantime, we’re at Pier 69 (steps from the Clipper’s HQ, in fact), where the commission chambers are overflowing – we in fact are sitting on the floor in the back of the room. We’ll be chronicling the meeting as it unfolds.
Energy groups in Alaska and beyond blasted the Biden administration for suspending long-sought oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) this week pending review.
Environmentalists pledged to fight the Biden administration's defense of a $6 billion oil and gas project on Alaska's North Slope, setting up a conflict with green groups that have largely cheered the Interior Department's newly tougher stance on fossil fuel extraction on public lands.