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Obama Proposes More Offshore Oil and Gas Leasing in AlaskaBut Smith said years of delay for his company so far will have the oil and gas industry watching closely when Shell drills in its existing leases next year.Related ContentNew off-shore oil and gas leases could be sold in Alaska in a few years, under a program announced by the Obama administration. But it remains to be seen how quickly those lease areas might be drilled. After a few years of delay, Shell appears poised to get approval to drill on its leases in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas next year. A company spokesman says that could determine what happens with the lease sales that are scheduled for the few years afterward. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced that Alaska's Outer Continental Shelf would be part of its 2012-to-2017 offshore leasing program. The administration plans to have one lease sale in Cook Inlet, as early as 2013, and then one each in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas in 2015 and 2016, respectively. "I think it's a positive recognition from the secretary that responsible offshore oil and gas activity will continue to play a really important role in our overall energy mix. Also, of course, create jobs and new domestic supplies of energy,” said Shell spokesman Curtis Smith. But Smith said years of delay for his company so far will have the oil and gas industry watching closely when Shell drills in its existing leases next year. "I think it's fair to say a lot of people will be looking at what happens to Shell in Alaska, given our stops and starts and the regulatory uncertainty and our success will largely determine the value, I think, of those future leases.” For some environmentalists, any further leasing is objectionable. "We should not be drilling for oil in the Arctic. We shouldn't be any new drilling at this point. As the climate is changing, the Arctic is melting at twice the rate of the rest of the world. We're seeing, all the animals of the arctic are in trouble," said Rebecca Noblin of the Center for Biological Diversity. "In the Arctic, I don't know that there is really any realistic way that you could deal with an oil spill. It would take technology that we simply don't have." Noblin points to the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico and says Alaska is even less prepared to contend with a spill. But Smith said: "We did look at it again because we're not tone deaf. There was an oil spill commission, the president wanted answers; so did the secretary. We think we fortified this program to make it as good as it possibly can be and hope to prove that in 2012." So next year's experience could determine whether the new leasing program unfolds as intended. Alaska's senators, Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich, both issued press releases praising the Interior Department's program. But they both also said that the proof of the administration's position will come in the permitting process after leases are sold.
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KINDA LATE ISEN'T IT? said on Friday, Nov 11 at 1:44 PM
Bumo has been in office 3 years and could have done this in the beginning to help american NOT depend on raghead oil in the Middle east. He wants us to be independant on his brothers, and wants Americans to go down the tubes and become another 3rd world country.Who is he kidding? He is telling another great white lie, hoping to get reelected, once done he will REJECT the plan 100%. He is NOT to be trusted ina any way shape or form. He is a world class liar
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