Overview:

The Minerals Management Service (MMS) is seeking comments on its next five-year plan for access to oil and gas resources on the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). This plan will determine where federal OCS oil and gas lease sales will occur over the five-year period of 2007-2012. If new areas are not included in the next plan, they will not be accessible for oil and gas exploration until the next planning period after 2012.

Alaska’s OCS may contain some of the most prospective petroleum basins in America. Improved access to these waters in a thoughtful and environmentally-sensitive way could significantly improve the nation’s domestic energy situation.

Action requested:

RDC encourages its members to participate in the planning process by submitting comments supporting increased access to the Alaska OCS within a strong regulatory framework that protects the environment and traditional ways of life for local residents. Deadline for comments is Tuesday, October 11.  In addition to recommending specific areas to be open for leasing, the MMS is seeking your opinion on whether to continue the Presidential moratorium in the North Aleutian Basin (Bristol Bay). MMS is also seeking input on whether to create gas-only leasing, where natural gas could be tapped, but not oil production, in specific offshore basins.

This comment period is the first step in a lengthy process of developing the new five-year plan.  Once a proposed leasing program is crafted based on input from this initial comment period, MMS will seek additional comments from the public at various stages throughout the NEPA process.

Comments may be submitted electronically at: www.mms.gov/5-year/2007-2012main.htm or by mail to: 5-Year Program Manager, Minerals Management Service (MS-4010), Room 3120, 381 Elden Street, Herndon, Virginia 20170. Email: fiveyrplcomments@mms.gov

Points to consider for your comments:

• Demand for energy is continuing to rise, yet mature basins in the U.S. and Canada are in steep decline. The U.S. is heavily reliant on foreign imports and Gulf of Mexico production, and recent hurricanes have demonstrated the need to geographically diversify domestic supplies.

• The Alaska OCS is an important future source of U.S. energy supply with an estimated 25 billion barrels of oil and 122 trillion cubic feet of natural gas potentially in place. The Chukchi Sea is considered the most prospective basin in the country.

• MMS should maintain regular lease sales in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, as well as portions of the North Aleutian Basin. These sales should move forward within a strong regulatory regime, requiring a stringent discharge policy, state-of-the-art oil spill response, seasonal operating restrictions as needed, and mitigation measures, including deferrals of specific tracts, to avoid conflicts with other resource users.

• Revenue sharing from the OCS with local communities should be enacted to help address local impacts. Early consultation and conflict avoidance mechanisms should also be established.

• OCS production in Alaska would provide many benefits, including hundreds of new jobs in rural and urban areas, additional tax and royalty income to the state, federal revenue sharing with local communities, new local sources of fuel and energy, and improved search and rescue operations.

• Subsistence whaling is vitally important, both economically and culturally, to North Slope villages. Seasonal restrictions and/or specific deferrals of tracts in active whaling waters should continue to be deferred from leasing to avoid potential conflicts.

• OCS development has an outstanding safety and environmental record spanning decades. Development has coexisted with other industries, including fishing, in the North Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and Cook Inlet.

• Technological advances and a strong regulatory framework in which Alaskan oil and gas development occurs will mitigate environmental risks.

• Given long lead times for development, which can exceed ten years, MMS must proceed expeditiously with key lease sales in the 2007-2012 OCS plan. Otherwise, production from new areas could be pushed back to 2020 and beyond.

Deadline for comments: Tuesday, October 11, 2005