Chukchi lease sale SEIS on track for March

In its latest status report, dated Jan. 20, BOEM, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, has said that it is still on target to issue a new record of decision for the 2008 Chukchi Sea lease sale in March. The agency is currently reworking the supplemental environmental impact statement for the lease sale as a consequence of a federal District Court in Alaska order in an appeal against the validity of the sale’s original environmental impact statement.

The court has placed a hold on lease related activities in the Chukchi Sea until the revised SEIS has been issued and until there is a record of decision affirming the holding of the sale. Several companies, including Shell, ConocoPhillips and Statoil, purchased leases in the sale. Shell is considering continuing an exploration drilling program in the Chukchi Sea in the summer of 2015 but requires a favorable record of decision for the sale before it can embark on that project.

The public comment period for the SEIS ended on Dec. 22 - BOEM says it received more than 430,000 comments. The agency says it will analyze those comments and issue a final SEIS in late February. There will then be a mandatory 30-day waiting period before the record of decision can be issued. The agency says that it is continuing to commit maximum available resources, including the authorization of additional work hours and overtime, to the completion of the SEIS and the record of decision.

- Alan Bailey