Notice of intent issued

The state has published a notice of intent to issue a final finding and decision for its first Cook Inlet areawide sale. The best interest finding and a final Alaska Coastal Management Policy consistency determination will be issued in January.

The Department of Natural Resources Division of Oil and Gas said Dec. 15 that if a decision is made that the proposed sale best serves the interests of the state, an instructions to bidders package will be available Jan. 12. The sale is tentatively scheduled for April 21 in the Wilda Marston Theater at the Loussac Library in Anchorage.

The proposed Cook Inlet areawide sale covers approximately 4.2 million acres in the Kenai Peninsula Borough, the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and the Municipality of Anchorage and includes unleased state-owned lands between the communities of Houston in the north and Homer in the south, the Chugach and Kenai mountains in the east and the Aleutian Range in the west.