Green Groups Decry Arctic Drilling Plans

Environmentalists are expressing outrage over the U.S. government's plan to sell oil and gas drilling leases in the Arctic's Chukchi Sea.

The U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS) plans to hold the lease sale on Wednesday, Feb. 6. The sale area covers about 29.7 million acres of outer continental shelf, starting from between 25 and 50 miles off the Alaskan coastline.

Located between Alaska and Russia and north of the Bering Strait, the Chukchi Sea is home to home to polar bears, walruses and endangered bowhead whales. It is also the historically most important food source for native Alaskan subsistence hunters and fishermen.

Last week, a coalition of conservation groups and indigenous peoples filed suit in federal district court arguing that the MMS didn't adequately take into account the impact drilling would have on wildlife and native communities.

Two bills targeting the lease sale have also been introduced in Congress. A proposal by U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D, MA) would prohibit drilling in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas until the environmental impacts are better understood, while a bill by Edward Markey (D, MA) seeks an immediate delay in the lease sale until the federal government reaches a decision on whether the polar bear merits protection under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

Groups protesting the planned lease sale say the U.S. Interior Department delayed its listing decision on the polar bear to enable the Chukchi Sea lease sale to continue unimpeded. According to Earthjustice, about one-tenth of all polar bears live in the Chukchi Sea region.

"The decision of whether or not to drill the Arctic should be about science, not politics," said Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club. "Scientists have warned about the risks of drilling the Chukchi Sea. Hiding that information from the public doesn't make it go away."

This week's sale is the MMS's third-ever in the Chukchi Sea, and its first since 1991. The 379 leases previously sold in 1988 and 1991 have all since expired.

The MMS asserts that both the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service found gas and oil exploration in the Chukchi Sea posed "no jeopardy" to wildlife.

"We believe our decision is a good balance, and will allow companies to explore this intriguing frontier area while still protecting the resources important to the coastal residents," said Randall Luthi, director of the MMS. "All leases will be subject to MMS's existing regulations that include extensive requirements for safety, drilling operations, and pollution prevention, plus regulations of other agencies protecting marine mammals, endangered species, and air and water quality."