The administration plans to sell offshore oil leases in environmentally sensitive areas previously placed off limits by President Bill Clinton.
According to the AP/New York Times
Details were sketchy, but in January, Bush ended drilling bans in an area of the central Gulf of Mexico and in Alaska's Bristol Bay. That action cleared the way for:
--Making an area in the Gulf of Mexico south of Florida's panhandle available for drilling. The "Lease Area 181" is a small part of a much larger 8.2 million acres that Congress approved for oil and gas development in December.
--Opening 5.6 million acres to drilling in waters northwest of the Alaska Peninsula, known for endangered whales and the world's largest run of sockeye salmon. Interior plans to sell leases there in 2010 and 2012, pending environmental reviews. An estimated 200 million barrels of oil and 5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas exist under those federal waters.
Interior's plan would, for the first time, allow drilling off Virginia's eastern shore, in a wedge-shaped area between the Maryland and North Carolina state lines stretching to a point about 200 miles east.
President Clinton banned all oil lease sales in Bristol Bay after the Exxon Valdez disaster. Bristol Bay supports teeming marine life including endangered whales and one of Americas largest fisheries specializing in sockeye salmon, halibut and king crab. Seismic activity in this area adds to the risks of offshore drilling. A major oil spill would have devastating environmental impacts.
The Florida Gulf coast has been previously off limits for drilling because of concerns in Florida for the tourist industry and the environment. The importance of Florida in presidential elections has made these concerns important enough to Republicans that they have opposed drilling here. Now that Bush is a lame duck, he only cares for the oil. The lease area has high risk of being hit by major hurricanes because the loop current often puts a dome of hot water over it.
And, in an unprecedented move, Bush plans to sell leases in offshore Virginia near critical habitat for migrating birds.
UPDATED
U.S. Proposal Would Allow Oil Drilling Off Virginia
Environmental groups said yesterday that they were troubled by the idea of oil exploration and drilling so near the wildlife refuge on Assateague Island and in an area closely linked to the Chesapeake Bay. Some of the bay's best-known species, such as blue crabs and rockfish, migrate to the ocean.
The Virginia shore is dotted with barrier islands and lagoons, most of them largely unspoiled. The Virginia coast has been designated a World Biosphere Reserve by the United Nations, and a National Natural Landmark by the Interior Department.
"This is one of the few places on the East Coast that just never got developed,"
The administration is going ahead this Monday with the plans they announced on January 9 of this year.
New Areas
The areas were withdrawn from consideration for leasing through 2012 by President Bill Clinton in 1998. By modifying that Presidential withdrawal to remove these two areas, President Bush’s action allows the Secretary of the Interior the option of offering these areas during the Minerals Management Service’s next five-year OCS oil and gas leasing program (2007-2012).
"Both OCS areas – one in the North Aleutian Basin of Alaska, known as Bristol Bay, and the other in the Central Gulf of Mexico – would receive thorough environmental reviews," Kempthorne said. "There will be significant opportunities for study and public comment before any oil and gas development could take place in these areas."
Congress had imposed moratoria on oil and gas activities in the North Aleutian Basin from FY 1990 through FY 2003, but discontinued the yearly moratorium in FY 2004. In 2006, then-Alaska Governor Frank H. Murkowski and other local government and Native Alaskan leaders expressed support for modifying the Presidential withdrawal in the North Aleutian Basin.
Accordingly, the 2007-2012 OCS Oil and Gas Proposed Program, developed by Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS), includes options for one or two lease sales in a small portion of the North Aleutian Basin – an area of about 5.6 million acres that was previously offered during Lease Sale 92 in 1988. The area would be subject to environmental reviews, including public comment, before any lease sale proceeds. There are no existing leases in the North Aleutian Basin.
The area in the Central Gulf of Mexico, referred to as the 181 South Area, comprises about 5.8 million acres in the Central Gulf of Mexico Planning Area, south of the181 Area and west of the Military Mission Line and more than 125 miles from the coast of Florida. The 181 South Area was included in the 2007-2012 OCS Oil and Gas Proposed Program. In December 2006, Congress passed and President Bush signed the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act, which requires leasing in that area. MMS must conduct a detailed environmental review of the area before any leasing can occur there.
The 2007-2012 OCS Oil and Gas Proposed Final Program and Final Environmental Impact Statement are scheduled to be released in spring 2007.
I have no doubt that the Alaskan lease area is a disaster waiting to happen. I suspect that the environmental impact statement will be rigged to favor industry and ignore serious environmental problems. We need to develop a plan for action.