Read RDC's Comments

Comment deadline was Monday, March 30, 2015

Overview:
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is holding public hearings across Alaska on its draft five-year Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) oil and gas lease sale plan for the period 2017-2022. The proposed plan lists one sale each in the Chukchi Sea, the Beaufort Sea, and Cook Inlet.

The proposed plan places 9.8 million acres of the Beaufort and Chukchi seas permanently off-limits to leasing, including the Hanna Shoal area of the Chukchi Sea. The offshore withdrawals came two days after the Obama administration announced it plans to ask Congress to designate nearly all of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as Wilderness, including the energy-rich coastal plain. These moves come at a time when oil production in Alaska is declining and the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System is running at one-fourth capacity.

The draft proposed offshore leasing program includes 11 potential lease sales in the Lower 48, including 10 in the Gulf of Mexico and, for the first time, one in the mid-to-south Atlantic region.

Action requested:
A 60-day comment period is currently underway and it will end on March 30, 2015. RDC encourages its members to submit written comments.

Submit written comments:

Online:
Go to http://www.regulations.gov, search for and select BOEM-2014-0096, then click “Submit a Comment.”

Mail:
Ms. Kelly Hammerle, Five-Year Program Manager
BOEM (HM-3120)
381 Elden Street
Herndon, VA 20170

Points to consider for your comments:
Please make the talking points your own, and tell your story and why this is important to you.

Cook Inlet

• Urge the federal government not to restrict access to development, or to take any areas off the table.
• Despite its enormous resource potential, Alaska does not have the same number of lease sales as other areas of the country, only three in a five-year plan.
• Oil and gas development is the backbone of Alaska’s economy.
• The discovery of oil in the Cook Inlet led to Alaska’s statehood, and has remained as a vital resource for energy security for 80% of homes in Alaska.
• Oil and gas development and production has coexisted with other industries, including fishing and tourism, for more than 50 years in Cook Inlet.
• Access through lease sales is the first step to development and subsequent production.

Arctic:

• Urge the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to keep all of the proposed leasing areas in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, and to deny additional restrictions on leasing in the final program.
• The Arctic OCS holds enormous oil and gas resources, greater than any other undeveloped energy basin in the United States.
• The Department of the Interior estimates that the Arctic OCS holds approximately 27 billion barrels of oil and 132 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
• It is estimated that the OCS off Alaska holds approximately one-third of the global OCS reserves.
• Development of the Arctic OCS would produce nearly 55,000 jobs nationwide, with greater than 35,000 direct and indirect jobs in Alaska alone.
• Alaskan jobs would generate over $70 billion in total payroll, and a cumulative payroll amounting to an estimated $145 billion nationwide.
• Arctic OCS development would provide money to the federal government as well. In 2008, Lease Sale 193 brought in greater than $2.6 billion, and further OCS development could amount to nearly $200 billion in federal, state, and local government revenue.
• Offshore development would help extend the longevity of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System , which is a critical link to the nation’s energy security.
• Over its 30-year span, TAPS has transported more than 17 billion barrels of oil from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez to tankers for west coast distribution.
• At one point, TAPS carried more than 2 million barrels per day, but over the last 20 years an annual decline in production from Alaska’s North Slope has resulted in TAPS transporting just over 500,000 barrels of oil a day now.
• Arctic OCS development could feed into TAPS and maintain its viability, and employment for Alaskans, for years to come.
• Oil and gas development is the backbone of the economy in Alaska.
• The taxes and royalties associated with the oil and gas industry supply approximately 90% of the state’s general fund, paying for essential services such as public education, public safety, and health care systems.
• Since 1971, 84 wells have been drilled in the Arctic OCS- all without incident.
• Planned drilling in the Chukchi Sea is in rather shallow water, similar to near-shore Gulf of Mexico, where safe drilling practices have led to a long history of safe operations.
• The Arctic OCS has multiple limitations on exploration, including seasonal drilling limitations and subsistence hunting closures.
• Industry that is currently operating in Arctic Alaska have taken great strides to coexist with the people of the Arctic and subsistence hunters.
• Newly instituted regulations and technologies will further ensure that development and environmental protection can co-exist in the Arctic.
• In the past decade, over 250 studies have been funded in the Arctic, with the majority focused on the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas.
• As the sea ice stays open longer and other industries begin to explore new areas of the Arctic, Alaska’s northern seas are left largely unattended with little infrastructure for response or rescue.
• Leasing of the Arctic OCS for exploration and development would bring much-needed infrastructure to a very rural on-shore area and would also provide additional response capabilities in an area where other countries and other industries are moving forward with exploration.
• For the benefit of Alaskans and the nation, BOEM is encouraged to continue to include Alaska leasing opportunities in the final plan.

Comment deadline was Monday, March 30, 2015