Palin supports planned MMS lease sales

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has told the U.S. Minerals Management Service that she supports the MMS initiative to develop a new five-year oil and gas leasing program for the U.S. outer continental shelf. MMS announced in August that it was developing a new plan that would come into effect in 2010, prior to the end of the current plan that spans the years 2007 to 2012. MMS said that escalating oil prices were driving the need for a fresh look at offshore leasing.

Palin praised MMS for embarking on the new planning exercise and expressed the state’s support for oil and gas leasing programs in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, as well as in limited parts of the North Aleutian basin.

“The oil and gas resources within the state of Alaska and in the federal waters off our shores can contribute greatly to the natural gas supplies of this nation, as well as diversify the nation’s oil and gas supply areas,” Palin said. “My support of the five-year OCS oil and gas leasing program, and specifically the development of those resources off the shores of Alaska, is directly linked to promoting the nation’s energy independence from foreign oil and gas.”

Palin also told MMS that she supports working closely with all stakeholders in offshore oil and gas development to minimize conflicts “especially with subsistence activities, fishing activities and fish and wildlife resource,” the governor’s office said.

—Alan Bailey