Posts Tagged ‘Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’
Alaska Delegation to Zinke: Exclude Bering Strait from OCS Proposal
Senators Murkowski and Sullivan and Congressman Young say they support oil and gas leases in both the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas. However, their letter asks Interior Secretary Zinke to remove 11 regions of offshore Alaska from the draft OCS proposal, including Bering Strait waters previously requested for protection by Kawerak.
Read More72-Hour Government Shutdown Delays Federal-Level Meetings on Rural Alaska Issues
Besides affecting AFN delegates’ and Melanie Bahnke’s scheduled conversations with government employees, the shutdown impacted Kawerak’s Board Chairman, Frank Katchatag, who was slated to speak at a Bureau of Ocean Energy Management public meeting today. This one BOEM proposed public meeting to be held in Alaska, regarding the National OCS program, is now postponed.
Read MoreBOEM Proposes Oil and Gas Lease Sale of Almost All Outer Continental Shelf; Kawerak and Others Not In Favor
In a reversal of Obama-era policy, a new Bureau of Ocean Energy Management proposal would open nearly all the Outer Continental Shelf of the United States to oil and gas exploration. The draft proposal recommends 19 lease sales be held in Alaska, 11 of them in areas not considered for oil and gas leasing in decades or ever before. That doesn’t sit well with regional organizations like Kawerak.
Read MoreEcological Atlas of Beaufort, Bering, and Chukchi Seas Conveys Years’ Worth of Data
Audubon Alaska has released a new, free and publicly-accessible ecological atlas of the Beaufort, Bering, and Chukchi Seas. It’s driven by years of careful measurements: “we… let the data do the talking,” says an Audubon representative who visited Nome last week.
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