"Greenpeace has a demonstrated pattern of conducting direct actions against Arctic oil and gas operations that violate the rights of others and create dangerous situations for their targets, law enforcement, and their own members," the lawsuit asserts, as quoted by CBC.
The company is seeking to remove the six activists from the Polar Pioneer oil drilling rig, which is travelling to the Chukchi Sea, off the Alaskan coast, aboard a heavy-lift ship called the Blue Marlin.
Shell has been absent from the Chukchi Sea for three years after its oil rig ran aground there in 2012. Last week, the US Interior Department reapproved Shell's 2008 lease, prompting a relocation of its drilling equipment to the region.
Shell will be drilling in dangerous proximity to Wrangel Island reserve off the Russian Far East coast. The United Nations has classified it as a World Heritage Site due to the island's exceptional biodiversity.
