In a 2-1 decision the 9^th Circuit Appeals Court of Appeals has stopped one of Alaska’s offshore drilling project dead in its tracks citing that the federal government has not looked deeply enough at the impact of the project on the bowhead whale and shoreline communities at the proposed drilling site. According to the decision the federal agency responsible for offshore leasing, Minerals Management Service, violated the 1970 National Environmental Act by not fully studying the environmental impact of the offshore drilling project which was to take place about 16 miles off Northern Alaska. MMS has been ordered to do more in depth study of the impact of the drilling on the sea life in the Beaufort Sea. more »