Anchorage Daily News

Four Obama administration officials who visited Alaska this week to work on a plan to better manage the nation's oceans ended up with an earful on seemingly every vexing topic involving the state's natural environment.

At a packed meeting Friday in Anchorage, they sat listening to about 60 Alaskans tick down a list of major issues facing coastal communities.

From offshore oil and gas drilling to this year's troubled salmon runs. From global warming to the increased ship traffic it already is bringing to the remote Arctic. From pollock trawlers unintentionally catching salmon to the controversial dividing of the crab catch among fishermen and processors.

The Obama officials arrived earlier this week and made a beeline for one of the biggest sources of controversy in Alaska: the Arctic. They visited Nome, Barrow and Deadhorse and flew over the ice pack.

Thanks to the warming climate, people in the region are "anticipating a new Arctic gold rush," said Jane Lubchenco, who heads the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, during a press conference on Friday.

About 60 Alaskans -- some of them wearing "Save our Oceans" stickers -- stepped up to mikes in downtown Anchorage on Friday afternoon to advise her and a few others assigned by Obama to develop a new national ocean policy.

Friday's testimony was the first public meeting held by Obama's Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force. One reason the task force is starting in Alaska: The state's coastline -- more than 33,000 miles, including islands -- is longer than the other states' combined coasts. Its waters provide roughly half of the nation's seafood catch, and vast quantities of oil and gas could lie underneath.

At the task force's Anchorage hearing, a nine-member panel of Alaskans, including University of Alaska Anchorage chancellor Fran Ulmer and former governor Bill Sheffield, gave speeches on a wide range of topics, from the health of Alaska Native coastal communities to the need for new ship-escort vessels and staging areas in shipping corridors.

The task force is composed of senior-level officials from throughout the federal government, and it has a tight deadline -- Dec. 10 -- to propose the new national policy. The task force's main goals, according to a June letter signed by Obama, include protecting, maintaining and restoring ocean and coastal resources, providing recommendations for adapting to climate change and developing better ways for federal agencies to work together on ocean issues.

Besides Lubchenco, three other of the two-dozen task force members visited Alaska: Nancy Sutley, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality; David Hayes, deputy secretary of the Interior; and Adm. Thad Allen, the Coast Guard commandant.

Alaska Native tribal leaders, environmentalists and industry groups all signed up to speak Friday.

Environmentalists applauded the Obama administration decision this week to make Alaska's Arctic waters off-limits to commercial fishing until they are better understood scientifically. But they said it seemed inconsistent that the Obama administration hasn't put a moratorium on oil and gas drilling there, too. New lease sales are planned for the Chukchi Sea off the northwest coast, for example.

"It seems there's a disconnect between the goals of this group and what's happening with oil and gas in the Arctic," said Marilyn Heiman of the Pew Charitable Trusts.

But some industry officials testified Friday and said that the ocean needs to remain open for multiple uses, and that the oil and natural gas under the ocean floor will be essential to Alaska's economy and future energy consumption in the Lower 48.

A recent study by an Anchorage consulting firm estimated that Alaska offshore oil and gas activity could create 35,000 jobs with payroll of $72 billion over time, said Susan Childs, Alaska regulatory manager for Royal Dutch Shell.

Her company hopes to explore for oil in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas next year.

Childs also raised the concern that the task force might be moving too fast if it has to complete its work by December.

Marleanna Soto, with the Resource Development Council, an industry trade group in Anchorage, said the task force needs to avoid creating redundant programs and more bureaucracy. She endorsed developing Alaska's offshore oil and gas and strengthening Coast Guard presence in the Arctic.

Several Alaska Native leaders criticized federal and state management of Alaska's fisheries, noting that subsistence fishermen in the Yukon delta have not been able to catch enough food this year due to poor salmon returns.

"That is a big issue that has been building up for many years," said Myron Naneng, president of the Association of Village Council Presidents, which represents 56 villages in Western Alaska.

He said subsistence fishermen need a seat on the North Pacific Fishery Management Council, which advises NOAA and whose seats are now limited to recreational and commercial fishermen and government officials.

North Slope Borough Mayor Itta thanked the task force for visiting Barrow.

He said Arctic waters have become stressed -- not just from climate change, but also from the clashes between villagers who want to maintain their traditional lifestyles and others who want to develop oil, gas and possibly tourism.

"We are not afraid of change; it's done a lot of good things for all people. But all of us know that change involves risk," Itta said.

"We just want to make sure that risks are controlled and mitigated as well as possible."

Find Elizabeth Bluemink online at adn.com/contact/ebluemink or call 257-4317.

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