The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) joined forces with Earthjustice to challenge clean air permits the Obama Administration issued to Shell last year. Those permits would have allowed Shell's ships to emit tons of pollutants into the Arctic environment, harming both Native communities and wildlife. The legal action resulted in a federal appeals board ordering the Administration to withdraw the clean air permits and start the process all over again.

"The polar bear and other wildlife of Alaska's Arctic, as well as the local communities that depend upon a healthy ocean, were granted a well-deserved reprieve today," said Brendan Cummings, senior counsel at the Center for Biological Diversity. "Now, the Department of the Interior needs to turn that short-term reprieve into permanent protection of America's Arctic."