WASHINGTON, D.C. Dec. 23, 2010 - The Native Village of Point Hope and Alaska Wilderness League expressed disappointment today that oil companies are one step closer to conducting oil and gas development activities in the pristine and fragile Arctic Ocean. Despite putting such activities on hold this spring, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced today that oil companies will be allowed to retain their leasing rights to 2.8 million acres of the Arctic's Chukchi Sea.
"This drilling plan is extremely risky and stressful," said Caroline Cannon, president of the Native Village of Point Hope. "We are already facing the consequences of climate change and the industrialization of the Beaufort coast. The cumulative stress of oil and gas activities, even without the inevitable oil spills, may prove to be a tipping point."
Salazar's decision comes after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled in April 2009 that the Bush administration's environmental analysis supporting the 2007-2012 Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program was "irrational" and declared the leasing program illegal. Secretary Salazar was directed to redo the environmental analysis and redraw the leasing program. In March 2010, Salazar announced preliminary plans to cancel four lease sales in the Arctic Ocean, while allowing Lease Sale 193, in which 2.8 million acres in the Chukchi Sea were leased in February 2008, to move forward.
In the time since Salazar announced this preliminary decision, more information has come to light demonstrating that oil companies hoping to drill in the Arctic – including Shell Oil, Statoil and Conoco Phillips – lack the information, technology and oversight necessary to proceed in the Arctic's icy, treacherous conditions.
"It is outrageous that industry is still pushing so hard to drill the Arctic when they know they cannot clean up oil spilled in that environment," said Cindy Shogan, executive director of Alaska Wilderness League. "Shell is driving us toward disaster in the Arctic, much like BP did in the Gulf."
The Native Village of Point Hope and Alaska Wilderness League are plaintiffs in the D.C. circuit case, and are represented by Peter Van Tuyn.
