The U.S. Interior Department on Friday cited low industry interest in its decision to cancel the sales of two Arctic offshore drilling leases, officials said. The exploratory well in the Chukchi Sea north of Alaska produced “indications of oil and gas” but the results were not enough to “warrant further exploration”. They will still expire in 2017 in the Beaufort Sea and in 2020 in the Chukchi Sea.
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Young says the state should just start drilling in offshore waters it controls and within 200 yards of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Among other things, the companies did not demonstrate a reasonable schedule of work for exploration and development under the leases, a regulatory requirement necessary for BSEE to grant a suspension.
The Obama administration is canceling its plans to sell oil drilling rights in the Arctic Sea through 2017, a remarkable turnaround since expanding drilling by approving new drilling permits for Shell Oil earlier this year. Statoil didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. “Because of Shell’s failure to find significant oil in the Chukchi Sea, new Arctic Ocean lease sales – which require extensive government preparation and costs – would likely be unsuccessful”. Also today, the agency announced that it had denied requests for extensions of leases now held by Shell and Statoil in the Arctic Ocean. To avoid climate catastrophe, Arctic oil and gas are unburnable and must remain in the ground. “There is not a lack of interest in the Arctic – if anything, what we are seeing is a lack of interest in working with the current leadership of the Interior Department”. BOEM published a call for information and nominations in July 2014, but only received one nomination, thereby raising concerns about the competitiveness of any such lease sale at this time, the Interior Department said. In September, the company stated that it experienced a “disappointing exploration outcome” in the Chukchi Sea and that, despite investing $7 billion on the project and gaining federal approval, it would not move forward.
“These are great steps in the right direction, but it is not the end of Arctic drilling forever”, Michael LeVine, Arctic campaigner for Oceana, said. Today’s announcement moves us away from old arguments about companies’ unwise investments and toward better choices for the Arctic Ocean. He blamed environmental regulations for Shell’s failure. But the Interior cancellation also puts fresh pressure on leaders in Alaska, where Independent Gov. Bill Walker described himself as “disappointed”.
And a sale of federal oil and gas leases in Alaska’s Cook Inlet, scheduled for next year, is still being planned.
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Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan said Friday the administration is correct to help look for solutions to the state’s high rates of suicide, domestic violence and addiction.
