Beaufort Sea Oil and Gas Lease Sale
The Beaufort Sea is a sea of the Arctic Ocean that borders Alaska and Canada from Point Barrow, Alaska to Lands End, Prince Patrick Island in Canada. Largely characterized by shallow waters that contain freshwater, estuarine and marine habitats, the Beaufort Sea supports an ecologically diverse array of aquatic species, marine and terrestrial mammals, and migrating birds. The Beaufort Sea also lies adjacent to the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Known as the biological heart of the Arctic Refuge, the coastal plain, among other things, serves as a vital calving area for the Porcupine caribou herd, harbors millions of seasonally migrating birds, and supports the most important land denning area in the United States for the endangered Polar Bear.
The seafloor below the Beaufort Sea is believed to hold potentially significant oil reserves. The State of Alaska owns the tide and submerged lands in the Beaufort Sea between Point Barrow and the Canadian border extending out three miles. In the past, the State of Alaska has leased some of those lands for oil and gas development.
Every ten years, the State of Alaska must revisit and evaluate whether leasing state submerged lands for oil and gas development in the Beaufort Sea, and other offshore areas of the state, is in the best interest of the State. The State does this by promulgating a “Best Interest Finding” (“BIF”), which is subject to public notice and comment. Once a final finding is made, it is then valid under state law for the next ten years, but the finding may be supplemented from time to time. The best interest finding serves as the guide upon which all lease sale decisions are made for that 10-year period.
What’s Happening Now at Trustees for Alaska:
In 2009, the State promulgated a new best interest finding for the Beaufort Sea Areawide Lease Sale area for 2009-2018, which comprises approximately 2 million acres portioned into 573 prospective lease sale tracts in state waters of the Beaufort Sea. Trustees for Alaska, on behalf of a number of concerned environmental and Native Alaskan groups provided comments on the State of Alaska’s Preliminary BIF. Based upon previous cases litigated by Trustees for Alaska challenging BIFs, the comments addressed the unconstitutional “phasing” of the BIF, which does not comply with the analysis required for natural resource conservation, utilization, and development under Article VIII of the Alaska Constitution. In addition, the comments urged the State to withdraw all of the proposed offshore area from the lease sale due to the potential impacts of oil and gas development on sensitive and endangered species, coastal and marine ecosystems, and the subsistence way of life, combined with the already visible and profound impacts of global climate change on the Arctic, and the industry’s proven inability to effectively contain or cleanup oil and hazardous substance spills in offshore Arctic waters.
As expected, the State ignored Trustees for Alaska’s comments, and a request for reconsideration was filed with the Commissioner of the Department of Natural Resources. The Commissioner quickly rejected the request for reconsideration, and Trustees for Alaska filed an administrative appeal to Alaska superior court on behalf of Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands (“REDOIL”), Gwich’in Steering Committee, Alaska Wilderness League, Center for Biological Diversity and Northern Alaska Environmental Center challenging the constitutionality of the BIF under Article VIII. In February the Judge Ruled Best Interest Finding for Beaufort Sea Leases Unconstitutional.
Trustees for Alaska has successfully challenged state oil and gas lease sales in the past and will continue its involvement with this issue to protect the Beaufort Sea, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the broader Arctic environment and the subsistence way of life.