Interior Pushes Huge Lease Sales off Arctic Coast ****Please comment by September 20**** Interior Secretary Gale Norton plans massive new oil and gas leasing across America's Arctic coasts, despite local government and citizen opposition. This is a return to the massive sales off Alaska first launched by Interior Secretary James Watt in the 1980's. Public comment is needed for a series of 3 federal lease sales in the Beaufort Sea stretching from the Canadian border nearly to Barrow. At 9.6 million acres each, this is 10 times the size of the last sale held in this region. Interior is short-circuiting public review with a single environmental impact statement covering all three sales (Lease sales 186,195, and 202. Unlike the last Beaufort sale, Interior plans new leasing off the coast of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as well as off theTeshekpuk Lake area of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. Offshore lease sales jeopardize the integrity of the wilderness, wildlife and coastal habitats of the Arctic Refuge and wildife-rich Teshekpuk Lake as well as the marine ecosystem itself. Offshore exploration and development would cause pollution, aircraft and vessel noise and related industrial activity, and potential spills. Failure of four field tests showed industry's inability to contain and clean up an oil spill in Arctic waters during most of the year. Oil spills pose great threats to endangered bowhead whale migration and feeding areas, polar bear habitat, migratory bird, fish and other sensitive environments. In the future, there would be intense pressure to construct sprawling onshore airports, pipelines, roads, docks, and other support facilities within the Arctic Refuge. The last Beaufort Sea lease sale 170 set a precedent of not leasing off the coast of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. At that time, the Interior Department cited among many reasons, the lack of information on cumulative impacts on the refuge, emergency response plans, and sub-sea pipelines. That lack of information still exists. ****Please comment by September 20 to: Mr. John Goll Regional Director Alaska OCS Region, Minerals Management Service 949 East 36th Ave., Room 308 Anchorage, AK 99508-4363 You can e-mail to: [log in to unmask] Please include your full name and address. You may want to address these key points: · Due to proven inability to clean up oil spills in the Beaufort Sea most of the year, the risks to bowhead whales, polar bears, migratory birds, and subsistence resources are too great to allow new offshore leasing in this sensitive area. · Areas that were deferred or deleted from past Beaufort Sea Sales, including the area north of the coast of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, the fall bowhead whale feeding grounds and migratory route, and the entire spring lead system should be permanently removed from the lease sales. None of the EIS alternatives address concerns about potential harm to these areas. · Please support Alternative 2, No Action, because it is the only alternative that adequately controls oil spill risks and impacts to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and Teshekpuk Lake (NPR-A) coastline. · A full public EIS process, complete with hearings, should be conducted for each separate lease sale that is held. (This alert originated with the Alaska Coalition of which Sierra Club is a member. Their website is www.alaskacoalition.org) Thanks for helping America's Arctic! __________ Vicky Hoover Sierra Club Alaska Task Force 415)977-5527 [log in to unmask] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - For SC email list T-and-C, send: GET TERMS-AND-CONDITIONS.CURRENT to [log in to unmask]