it's by dan springer in april of this year. shell oil company announced that it must scrub efforts to drill for oil this summer in the arctic ocean off the northern coast of alaska. the decision comes following a ruling by the e.p.a.'s environmental appeals board to withhold critical error permits. shell has spent five years and nearly $4 billion on plans to explore for oil in the beaufort and chukchi seas off alaska. the leases alone cost cost $2.2 billion. the closest village to where shell proposed to drill is catobic, alaska. it is one of the most remote places in the united states. according to the latest census, the population is 245 people, and nearly all of them are alaska natives. the village, which is one square mile, sits right along the shores of the beaufort sea 70 miles away, 70 miles away from the proposed offshore drill site. the e.p.a.'s appeal board ruled that shell had not taken into consideration emissions from an ice-breaking vessel when calculating overall greenhouse gas emissions from the project. at stak