U.S. President Barack Obama has prohibited oil and gas leasing at Bristol Bay, extending indefinitely a temporary withdrawal issued in 2010 which was due to expire in 2017.
“This action builds on decades of local efforts to protect Bristol Bay from oil and gas development by Alaska Native tribes and organizations, as well as local seafood and tourism businesses that create jobs and strengthen Alaska and the nation’s economy,” said a news release from The White House press office.
Spanning about 32.5 million acres, the North Aleutian Basin Planning Area—which includes Bristol Bay—includes an area that was leased in the mid-1980s but never developed due to litigation. The previous administration set in motion a new lease sale for 2011 that would have opened about 5.6 million acres—about one-fifth of the planning area—for drilling, according to the release. However, President Obama temporarily withdrew the Bristol Bay area from oil and gas development in 2010.
Following the announcement on Wednesday, National Ocean Industries Association President Randall Luthi issued a statement, pointing out that more than 85% of the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf remains closed to oil and gas leasing.
“The National Ocean Industries Association represents the entire offshore energy industry, including renewable energy producers, and we support an all-of-the-above energy strategy that includes opportunities to explore truly new offshore areas for both renewable energy opportunities and oil and gas. Where is the balance?” Luthi asked. “It is the president’s prerogative to create new closures, but he also has the ability to open up new areas, and we certainly encourage him to do so in the upcoming five year offshore oil and gas leasing program.”
The current five-year program, which expires in August 2017, schedules 15 potential lease sales in six planning areas with the greatest resource potential, including more than 75 percent of the estimated undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and gas resources in federal offshore waters, the release said.
The 2017-2022 program, which includes opportunities for public comment, is currently being developed by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
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