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The Minerals Management Service, which is a part of the
Department of Interior, wants to lease huge swathes of Alaska’s offshore
waters to the oil and gas industry. The MMS has developed a draft
“5-Year Program” for the Outer Continental Shelf, which are the lands and
waters that run from 3 to 200 miles off of America’s coast. While
the draft Program covers all of the country’s offshore areas, it targets
Alaska for a huge amount of drilling: roughly 50% of the areas
slated for drilling nationwide are off Alaska. The fishery-rich Cook
Inlet is on the chopping block, as are other significant areas in Alaska’s
Bristol Bay, Beaufort Sea, and Chukchi Sea.
Now your help is needed to protect Alaska’s bays, seas and
ocean from these plans to drill for oil and gas. Sea lions,
otters, walruses, and whales – along with Alaska’s world-class fisheries –
are in serious danger from the proposals to open-up Alaska’s offshore
areas to wide-scale drilling. Please tell the Department of Interior
to back-off of Alaska’s incomparable oceans and change its plans to turn
Alaska’s oceans into a giant oil field. The public comment
period is closing next Friday, November 24, so please take action
now.
Look over our talking points below, and then click here to comment on the “5-Year Program” that threatens
Alaska’s oceans. Afterwards, click here to comment on the draft Environmental Impact
Statement, a document that is supposed to demonstrate that all scientific
and local concerns have been adequately addressed. To ensure that
the government receives these comments, consider printing them and mailing
them to the addresses listed at the very bottom of this message.
Thanks for helping keep Alaska wild.
Sincerely,
Cindy Shogan
Executive Director
Alaska Wilderness League
www.AlaskaWild.org
In
your letter to MMS, please consider saying that:
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The North Aleutian Basin, the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas and the
Lower Cook Inlet should be removed from the 5-Year Program, and Bristol
Bay should continue to be protected through its Presidential Moratorium
on exploration and drilling activities.
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The draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) does not:
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adequately include important scientific information
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respond to local community concerns
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address impacts on marine resources, wildlife, birds and
fisheries
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Energy exploration and development threaten Alaska's sustainable
ocean economies.
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The United States needs to develop an economically viable and
rational energy plan.
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Nationally important fisheries are supported by the areas that are
proposed for oil and gas activities.
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Nationally protected parks and refuges are near to proposed sale
areas, including Katmai National Park, the Arctic National Wildlfe
Refuge, the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area, the Lake Clark National Park,
and the Kodiak, Becharof, Alaska Peninsula and Alaska Maritime National
Wildlife Refuges.
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The Alaska ocean areas slated for energy development are migratory
routes for Bowhead and Beluga Whales, while the Bering Sea region
supports the last 100 Pacific Right Whales. Gray, Humpback, Fin,
Minke and Orca whales use the Bering Sea and Lower Cook Inlet, and there
are increasing sightings of these whales in the Chukchi. In
addition, these areas provide habitat for other birds and animals,
including Stellar sea lions, sea otters, several types of seals and a
host of bird species. The world's larges clam beds are in the
Chukchi Sea.
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People whole lives depend upon a clean and healthy ocean could be
severely impacted by oil and gas developmentand exploration.
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The draft EIS and 5-Year program dramatically downplay the risk of
oil spills and damages. Yet it would be impossible for industry to clean
up oil spills in these Alaska waters, which are known for their harsh
climates and weather, and are covered in ice for much of the
year.
For the draft Environmental Impact Statement:
James F.
Bennett
5-Year Draft EIS Comments
381 Elden Street, MS
4042
Herndon, VA 20170
For the proposed 5-Year Program:
Renee Orr
5-Year Program
Manager
381 Elden Street, MS 4010
Herndon, VA 20170
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