A US federal court has removed a legal challenge to plans by Anglo Dutch oil giant Shell to begin test drilling off the coast of Alaska this summer.

The court said the federal authorities had met their obligations to consider the potential threat to wildlife and the risk for disaster before it approved Shell’s Arctic Ocean project.
Shell Oil hopes to drill five exploratory wells with a 514-foot drilling ship, the Frontier Discoverer.
Environmental groups said they were disappointed in the court’s decision, particularly in light of the BP crude oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
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