As the one-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon disaster approaches, the Department of the Interior is in the midst of planning where and when to drill for oil in our oceans for the next five years. Millions of acres of our outer continental shelf are already leased to oil companies, and now the administration is deciding what additional areas to open up for drilling. One of the places in which Interior is considering unleashing drilling is the Arctic Ocean, a remote, fragile region—home to polar bears, whales, walrus, seals among many others—that we know very little about and that is already under tremendous stress due to climate change. Right now, Secretary Salazar is looking to the public for input on these decisions. Please take action now and make sure your voice is heard! Tell the Interior Department that the Arctic Ocean should not be considered for drilling when there are such large information gaps in science and oil spill response. It should not be included in Interior's leasing plan. Last year, the Gulf spill tragically demonstrated that offshore drilling is a risky business, and it is essential that this risk be considered when deciding whether to open new areas to leasing. Drilling in the ocean puts entire ecosystems at risk, particularly in places like the Arctic, where icy, stormy and remote conditions would make it would be impossible to clean up a large oil spill were one to occur. The Arctic Ocean is also one of the least understood places on earth. Without basic science about the region, it is not possible to assess, or manage, the effects of industrial activity there. Add to this that the region is undergoing rapid climate change, and it is clear that there should be no new drilling here. Please tell Secretary Salazar to heed the warnings of the President's Oil Spill Commission and be cautious in the Arctic. Until we have a better understanding of the region and can fully clean up a large oil spill there if it occurs, Secretary Salazar should not offer additional oil and gas leases in the Arctic. Instead, the Secretary should use the next five years to undertake a comprehensive scientific study of the area to understand the basic ecology of the Arctic Ocean, how it is shifting due to climate change, and what effects oil and gas drilling would have on the region's wildlife and people.
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RE: Hold No New Lease Sales in the Beaufort and Chukchi Sea
I am encouraged by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE)'s decision to take a deliberate and fully informed approach to the scoping process for the 2012-2017 Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program. As a part of this informed approach, it must be understood that oil and gas activities on the Arctic OCS present unique and unknown risks. The lack of scientific information, the lack of effective spill prevention and response capability for the Arctic Ocean, and the potentially significant impacts of oil and gas activity on wildlife and subsistence practices make additional leasing inappropriate at this time.
First, we lack baseline science necessary to make informed Arctic Ocean leasing decisions. In particular, more scientific analysis is needed to understand how species utilize Arctic habitat and function in the larger Arctic ecosystem, and how industrial development will affect those species and the ecosystem, especially in the face of climate change. The President's National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling said scientific data gaps should be filled before making decisions about where and when to drill in frontier areas like the Arctic Ocean. Secretary Salazar has himself directed United States Geological Society to conduct a gap analysis. These are encouraging steps, but a meaningful scientific analysis will require time. The Secretary should use the next five years to obtain missing science needed to effectively manage the Arctic Ocean. He should not offer further oil and gas leases in the region during this time.
Second, spill response capacity is inadequate in the Arctic. The President's Commission's report confirmed that both the government and industry failed to fully understand or prepare for a large spill. If a similar spill were to occur in the Arctic Ocean it would be catastrophic. Also specific to the Arctic, the Commission wrote that Interior must ensure that companies do in fact have the response capabilities they state, and recommended increasing the Coast Guard's capacity in the Arctic. In addition, Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen has clearly stated that cleaning up a spill Arctic would be a major challenge. Experts all agree: we do not have the ability to clean up an oil spill in the icy waters of the Arctic Ocean.
To avoid irreversible impacts to marine life and the surrounding ecosystem of the Arctic, I urge you to exclude the Beaufort Sea and the Chukchi Sea planning areas, including Hope Basin, from the 2012-17 leasing schedule.
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