The federal government isn't expected to hold an oil drilling lease sale in the U.S. Arctic Ocean for at least a few more years, but a meeting on the topic in Anchorage on Tuesday drew a large crowd, after environmental groups rented a room next to the leasing agency's open house and hired a stenographer to take statements from people opposed to drilling.
The sideshow, with one protester dressed as a polar bear and others waving signs with slogans such as "Keep it in the Ground" -- centered around the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management's proposed 2017-2022 lease plan for the U.S. outer continental shelf.
The event was also chance to comment on a draft environmental impact statement that, once finalized, could be used by Interior Secretary Sally Jewell to determine when, or if, lease sales will be held for oil explorers in the U.S. Arctic Ocean and Cook Inlet during the five-year period. The plan also proposes lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico.
In October, the Obama Administration canceled two planned lease sales for the Arctic Ocean, citing a lack of interest amid low oil prices. The decision followed Shell's announcement that it was halting efforts to explore the region "for the foreseeable future."
Now, in a new plan, the agency has proposed a sale for the Beaufort Sea in 2020, the Cook Inlet in 2021 and the Chukchi Sea in 2022.
The Sierra Club rented the conference room at the Embassy Suites off Benson Boulevard in Anchorage, giving critics of the proposed lease sales a chance to voice their opposition. Alaska Wilderness League hired the stenographer. About 100 opponents of Arctic drilling signed in for the rally, and about 15 spoke.
Rather than take testimony from speakers, BOEM provided computers so people could make written comments. Experts at stations interacted with the public about such things as oil spill impacts and the regulatory process.
Mollie Ningeulook, from Shishmaref, a village along the Chukchi Sea, said the Sierra Club flew her to Anchorage for the event.
She said she wants no lease sales. She's worried an oil spill could devastate important subsistence animals such as seals, and that oil production in the region will contribute to dangerous climate change by increasing the amount of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere.
"I'm worried the animals will disappear due to this climate change," she said.
Officials with the pro-industry Resource Development Council want the proposed sales held. They said renewable energy should be part of the nation's energy mix, but they added that oil will remain a vital fuel for decades to come. The U.S. Arctic Ocean could be one of the world's largest oil provinces if careful development is allowed, recharging Alaska oil production that is running at one-fourth of its levels in the late 1980s.
"It's such a huge resource that it shouldn't be ignored," said Marleanna Hall, the RDC's executive director.