Anchorage Daily News

WASHINGTON -- The Interior Department is expected to ask a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., to clarify what it meant when it determined the agency failed to adequately consider the effect of an offshore oil and gas leasing program in Alaska.

The court in April ruled that the department's Minerals Management Service failed to consider the effect on the environment and marine life before it began under the Bush administration in 2005 to expand an offshore oil and gas leasing program in the Beaufort, Bering and Chukchi seas. The appeals court ordered the Interior Department, now run by President Barack Obama's appointee Ken Salazar, to analyze the areas to determine environmental risks and potential damage before moving ahead.

A spokeswoman for Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, said that the Interior Department is expected to ask for clarification on whether leases that have already been sold must be reconsidered -- or whether it applies simply to unsold but planned-for lease sales.

The Justice Department hasn't officially filed the request for clarification yet for the Interior Department, however. Until it is filed with the court, the Interior Department would not comment.

However, Begich's office sent out an early draft of the Interior Department announcement, which said that its interpretation of the decision is that they do not have to invalidate prior leases. They are asking the court to clarify whether it's acceptable to fix the shortcomings in the environmental analysis for the agency's current five-year leasing plan, without developing and approving an entirely new five-year program.

Last week, Begich, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., sent a letter asking the Interior Department to request the clarification of the court.

"The court's overly broad decision put too many leases in jeopardy," Begich said in a statement. "We need to get the leasing program back on track to ensure Alaska projects move forward, give clear expectations to our oil and gas industry and continue meeting America's energy needs."

Shell, Conoco Phillips and other oil companies last year paid more than $2 billion for leases in the Chukchi Sea off the northwest coast. The companies, and state officials, believe the offshore reserves could power the Alaska economy for decades.

But Natives along the northern coast worry the noise of offshore development could chase away bowhead whales and other subsistence foods. They, along with environmentalists, are concerned about the limited technology for cleaning up oil spills in icy water. And salmon fishermen in Bristol Bay are concerned that drilling in nearby waters could disrupt the flow of sockeye into their nets.

Find Erika Bolstad online at adn.com/contact/ebolstad or call her in Washington, D.C., 202-383-6104.

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