Interior Department to decide on Alaska outer continental shelf 5-year lease program
By APTuesday, March 30, 2010
Interior Dept. to decide Alaska offshore drilling
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska could receive news soon from the federal government on plans for petroleum lease sales on outer continental shelf waters off the state’s coastline.
A legal filing Tuesday says the Interior Department expects to announce “very soon” a review of its 2007-2012 five-year OCS lease program.
The Washington, D.C., federal appeals court nearly a year ago ruled that the Bush-era Interior Department did not properly study the environmental impact of expanding oil and gas drilling off the Alaska coast.
Additional sales were scheduled for the Chukchi and three other Alaska areas, including Bristol Bay and the Beaufort Sea.
Just one lease sale has been conducted under the five-year program, which earned the federal government $2.7 billion.
