Bush lifts ban on Bristol Bay drilling

WASHINGTON – President Bush on Tuesday lifted a ban on new oil and gas drilling in Alaska’s Bristol Bay, a decision that angered environmentalists and could provoke a battle with the Democratic-controlled Congress over energy policy.

The 5.6 million acres of the bay on the west side of the Alaskan Peninsula just north of the Aleutian Islands have been off-limits for energy exploration since 1989, after the Exxon Valdez spill.

Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, in announcing Tuesday that the area would be opened for energy exploration, said the move would “enhance America’s energy security” and pledged a thorough environmental review before drilling begins.

Environmentalists warned that Bush’s action could endanger an area rich in marine life, as well as signal a new assault on the long-standing drilling moratorium off much of the U.S. coast.

“This is an area that is too special to open to drilling,” said Sierra Club lobbyist Melinda Pierce, who vowed to lobby Congress to restore the drilling ban.

Environmental groups describe Bristol Bay as home to the world’s largest sockeye salmon run, large pollock and cod fisheries, and endangered stellar sea lions and whales.

“Why risk ruining a billion-dollar fishery, a valuable sport-hunting and fishing industry, a critical resource for Native Alaskans and one of the most important places for marine wildlife populations in the Bering Sea?” asked Bill Eichbaum, managing director and vice president of the marine portfolio at World Wildlife Fund.

While much of the nation’s coast – except for large sections of the Gulf of Mexico – is off-limits to new drilling under congressional and presidential moratoriums, the congressional ban on new drilling in Bristol Bay was not renewed in 2003 at the urging of Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska.

That left the presidential moratorium in place – until Tuesday.

Stevens praised Bush’s action, saying it would help the region’s economy. “Imported farmed salmon, high energy costs, and the area’s remoteness have limited economic development and contributed to high poverty in the region,” he said in a statement. “The possibility of oil and gas development in Bristol Bay presents a series of new opportunities to the people of this region.”

No estimate was immediately available on how much oil and gas lies beneath the area that would be opened under Bush’s action. Drilling is not likely to begin before 2010.

The administration also announced that it was increasing the royalty rates paid by oil and gas companies for drilling in deepwater leases, drawing praise from congressional Democrats.