WASHINGTON – President Bush is deciding whether to lift a ban on oil and gas drilling in federal waters off Alaska's Bristol Bay, home to endangered whales, sea lions and the world's largest sockeye salmon run.
Leasing in a portion of the area, rich in oil and natural gas, ended nearly two decades ago – while Bush's father was president – in the outcry after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989.
But with natural gas prices higher, the Interior Department's Minerals Management Service proposed reopening the North Aleutian Basin. That includes Bristol Bay and part of the southeastern Bering Sea.
White House spokesman Scott Stanzel yesterday confirmed that the president was considering taking that step.
Environmentalists oppose drilling there because of the potential for oil spills and harm to wildlife. They have speculated in recent days that Bush might allow such drilling before Democrats regain control of Congress in January.
“If the Bush administration decides to allow drilling in Bristol Bay, it will simply illustrate the level to which they will sink to satisfy Big Oil,” Sierra Club Executive Director Carl Pope said yesterday. “They are willing to risk a valuable, renewable resource like Bristol Bay's salmon fisheries for limited, shortsighted drilling plans.”
The Minerals Management Service said in its August proposal that reopening energy development in the basin's federal waters, extending between three miles and 200 miles offshore, could produce $7.7 billion in oil and gas production and up to 11,500 jobs.
Some 200 million barrels of crude oil, about what the U.S. imports every 16 days, are thought to be there. The agency estimates the region could yield 5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas – one-quarter of all U.S. annual production.
Fourteen companies are said to be interested. The agency cited support among more than a dozen local and tribal governments nearby that believe the drilling would boost their economy. Lease payments go to the government.
Despite its fame among fishermen for its rich stocks of salmon, king crab and other seafood, the Bristol Bay fishing region has lost hundreds of millions of dollars over the past decade because of competition from less-expensive farmed salmon.
