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Messages of support for OCS development Labor unions, trade associations, Native corporations and retired military leaders make case for future Arctic offshore lease sales ALAN BAILEY Petroleum News
Following the publication of a letter to the Obama administration from nearly 400 scientists opposing oil drilling on the Arctic outer continental shelf, supporters of Arctic offshore oil and gas development have weighed into the debate.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has been accepting comments on a proposed outer continental shelf lease sale program, running from 2017 to 2022. The program includes a Beaufort Sea sale in 2020 and a Chukchi Sea sale in 2022. Public comments on the program were due by June 16. Letters for and against Arctic drilling were filed as part of the public comment process, and some of these letters have now been published.
Letter to BOEM On June 16 a coalition of 15 groups, including labor unions, trade associations and Native regional corporations sent a letter to Abigail Ross Hopper, director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, saying that it is paramount that the agency retain all Arctic outer continental shelf acreage in the lease sale program.
“As an Alaska coalition that represents tens of thousands of jobs for our state’s citizens, we cannot overstate how important it is to have consistent lease sales which provide the first step in gaining access to the Arctic OCS for responsible development,” the letter says.
The letter says that Alaska statehood was predicated on natural resource development and that today more than one-third of Alaska jobs are tied to the oil and gas industry. And, as the state’s existing oil fields mature, Alaska’s economy depends on outer continental shelf development, the letter says.
According to a University of Alaska Anchorage study, outer continental shelf oil and gas development would create an average of 54,700 new jobs. And, with the Alaska outer continental shelf holding one of the world’s largest untapped hydrocarbon resources, denial of the ability to develop these resources would further increase reliance on foreign oil and gas in a geopolitically volatile environment, the letter says.
Military leaders Comments submitted by a group of 15 retired senior leaders from the U.S. military and former U.S. Secretary of Defense, William Cohen, focus on what they see as the strategic importance of the Arctic.
“The strategic importance of the Arctic is growing due to rapid change in the physical and geopolitical environments,” the retired military leaders say. “Excluding the Arctic from the (leasing) program would harm our ability to protect our interests and to promote cooperation in the region.”
The comments say that the White House, Defense Department and Coast Guard Arctic strategies depend on cooperation between the government and the private sector, with both sectors sharing the infrastructure development costs, resources and expertise needed for the region. Excluding the Arctic from the oil and gas leasing program would signal a retreat from the region, reducing flexibility in promoting U.S. national interests while compromising the nation’s involvement in international cooperation in initiatives such as ensuring best practices in Arctic drilling, the comments say.
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