Interior Department set to release offshore drilling analysis

One lease sale has been conducted under the 2007-2012 five-year Outer Continental Shelf lease program -- the February 2008 Chukchi Sea sale that earned the federal government $2.7 billion. Additional sales were scheduled for the Chukchi and three other Alaska areas.

A federal appeals court ruled nearly a year ago that the Bush-era Interior Department did not properly study the environmental impact of expanding oil and gas drilling off the Alaska coast before authorizing its five-year program.

Attorney Peter Van Tuyn, representing the Native village of Point Hope and two environmental groups, said Tuesday that judges concluded the Bush administration environmental review was "irrational." The department equated the sensitivity of water far offshore with coastal areas, he said.

That was a significant error regarding Arctic waters, where the environment and wildlife are driven by the ice edge that moves north and south with the seasons, Van Tuyn said.

Sea ice is a key element in the Beaufort Sea on Alaska's north coast, the Chukchi Sea on the state's northwest coast, and the Bering Sea, including Bristol Bay, home to the world's largest sockeye salmon fishery.

All three seas are on the migratory paths of endangered whales. The Beaufort and Chukchi seas are home to Alaska's two polar bear populations. Indigenous communities rely on marine life for subsistence hunting and fishing, and some fear industrial activity -- from ship traffic to noise to spills -- will permanently alter their homes.

Elected officials in Alaska continue to push for lease sales that will lead to exploration and extraction.

Gov. Sean Parnell has aggressively challenged endangered species listings that could delay drilling.

U.S. Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, wrote Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Monday reminding him that drilling would create thousands of jobs and increase domestic energy production.

"I strongly urge you to ensure the balance you strike in Alaska continues a strong leasing program in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas," Begich wrote.

Michael LeVine, an attorney for the marine conservation group Oceana, said the Bush administration rushed forward with lease proposals without considering the effects of industrial activity. Federal regulators lack baseline data in the Arctic Ocean to even know if industrialization would cause changes.

"We know that Americans want energy and they want a healthy environment," he said. "There's a way to do it right."

Salazar could remove areas from the lease program, such as Bristol Bay, which is scheduled for a 2011 sale. He could negate the 2008 Chukchi sale, where Shell Gulf of Mexico Inc. paid $2.1 billion for leases and hopes to drill exploration wells this year.