A federal court Wednesday afternoon ordered all activities under Lease Sale 193 in the Chukchi Sea off the north coast of Alaska halted pending further environmental review by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Enforcement, and Regulation, formerly the Minerals Management Service.
The court determined that the agency failed to meet its obligation under the law to analyze the importance of missing basic scientific information about the Chukchi Sea and verify whether it could obtain the information prior to offering leases in the sea. The court also faulted the agency for failing to analyze the potential impacts of possible natural gas development from the lease sale. In light of today’s decision, Secretary Salazar should fundamentally reexamine the decision to offer leases in the Chukchi Sea.
Defenders’ executive vice president Jamie Rappaport Clark said, “This decision halting new drilling in Alaska’s Chukchi Sea represents a great opportunity for the Obama administration to take a new look at the risks of offshore drilling to our oceans, our coasts and marine wildlife. The Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf has demonstrated clearly just how risky offshore oil drilling can be, and the risks in the remote and wild Arctic Ocean are simply too great to take.”
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