Beaufort Sea drilling plan draws objections

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — U.S. President Donald Trump’s pledge to make the United States “energy dominant” is extending to Arctic Ocean waters despite a pending lawsuit and lack of approval for a required five-year drilling plan.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) on Thursday opened a 30-day comment period seeking solicitations of interest in lease blocks within the Beaufort Sea off Alaska’s north coast for a sale in 2019. Expressions of interest help shape the scope of lease sales, and if there’s no interest expressed, sales can be cancelled. Arctic offshore sales are not included in the five-year drilling plan created under president Barack Obama. Environmental groups say a new national leasing program must be completed before a sale and that the administration is rushing the process in the Beaufort. “Prejudging the outcome of the planning process is bad governance and bad for our ocean,” said Michael Levine of Ocean Conservancy.

James Kendall, BOEM’S Alaska region director, in an announcement Wednesday said the Beaufort Sea possesses great oil and gas potential as well as “unique, environmentally sensitive areas important to the subsistence needs of the region’s Alaska native communities.” “This process will help us identify not only the areas that can be safely and responsibly developed, but also those areas that should be protected for wildlife and traditional uses,” Kendall said. Environmental groups contend Arctic offshore drilling will harm a region already hammered by climate warming. Summer sea ice has declined steadily in recent decades, reducing habitat for ice-dependent species such as walruses, polar bears and ringed seals, the main prey of polar bears.

The groups say a major oil spill would devastate wildlife and ruin marine mammal hunting for Alaskan natives. They also say oil companies have not demonstrated that they can clean a spill in ocean waters choked with ice or covered by sea ice.