FEIS for potential Cook Inlet lease sale

KRISTEN NELSON

Petroleum News

The federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has released a final environmental impact statement for a potential outer continental shelf Cook Inlet oil and gas lease sale.

The potential Cook Inlet sale is in the Department of the Interior’s 2012-17 OCS oil and gas leasing program and if held would be in June.

There have not been bids for Cook Inlet OCS tracts since 1997 - sales since then have not been held due to lack of industry interest or have received no bids.

BOEM said the area identified for the potential Cook Inlet lease sale is close to existing leases in state waters, “avoids nearly all of the areas designated as critical habitat for the beluga whale and the northern sea otter, avoids the critical habitat for the Steller sea lion, and excludes much of the subsistence use area for the Native villages of Nanwalek, Port Graham and Seldovia, as requested by the tribal governments.”

The final EIS is available on the BOEM website at www.boem.gov/Sale-244/.

The proposed sale includes 224 OCS blocks in the northern portion of the Cook Inlet planning area covering some 1.09 million acres and representing about 20 percent of the total Cook Inlet planning area.

While five OCS lease sales have been held in the Cook Inlet planning area over the past 40 years, no OCS leases are currently active.

An October 1977 sale resulted in 88 leases issues; 13 leases were issues following a September 1981 sale. There were no bids in an August 1982 re-offering sale. Two leases were issued following a June 1997 sale, but there were no bids in a May 2004 sale.

Two special interest Cook Inlet sales were included in the 2007-12 oil and gas leasing program, but neither was held due to lack of industry interest.

Between 1978 and 1985 13 exploration wells were drilled in the Cook Inlet planning area, all of which have been permanently plugged and abandoned, BOEM said.

The currently proposed sale, Sale 244, is a special interest sale included in the 2012-17 OCS oil and gas leasing program. BOEM issued a request for interest in Sale 244 in 2012. The agency said in the FEIS that the proposed sale area “included most of the areas identified by industry in their responses to the RFI” but excluded critical habitat areas for the Steller sea lion and the majority of the designated critical habitat areas for the beluga whale and the northern sea otter encompassed in the larger planning area.

“By excluding critical habitat, subsistence areas, and areas adjacent to parks, preserves, and wildlife refuges, BOEM reduced the potential for effects to those resources prior to formal commencement of the NEPA process,” the agency said.