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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Court derails offshore drilling program

Ruling affects Alaska coast, may apply elsewhere

Nedra Pickler Associated Press

WASHINGTON – A federal appeals court ruled Friday that the Bush administration did not properly study the environmental impact of expanding oil and gas drilling off the Alaska coast and canceled a program to find new reserves.

A three-judge panel in Washington found that the Bush-era Interior Department failed to consider the effect on the environment and marine life before it began the process in August 2005 to expand an oil and gas leasing program in the Beaufort, Bering and Chukchi seas.

It wasn’t entirely clear whether the decision applies to other areas of the same expanded offshore drilling program, including tracks in the Gulf of Mexico and along the Atlantic Coast.

Attorneys for environmentalists and industry said they think it would cancel the entire program, not just the Arctic region. Officials at the Interior Department could not immediately answer the question.

The appeals court ordered the Interior Department, now run by President Barack Obama’s appointee Ken Salazar, to analyze the areas to determine environmental risks and potential damage before moving ahead with the program.

The seas off Alaska that were at the center of the suit are home to wildlife including polar bears, whales, seals, walruses and seabirds. The lawsuit was brought by three environmental groups that want to protect the ecosystem and the village of Point Hope, Alaska, home to a tribe that lives off the wildlife on the Chukchi Sea coast.

The decision comes at a time when oil and gas producers are finding it increasingly difficult to find new reserves and boost production at home and abroad. Output from the biggest U.S. oil companies has largely been in decline in the past few years.

The American Petroleum Institute, the industry’s trade association which joined the lawsuit to defend the program, said Friday it’s reviewing the implications.

“It would be a disservice to all Americans – and a devastating blow to the economy – if this decision were to delay further the development of vital oil and natural gas resources,” the organization said in a statement. “Development in federal waters off the nation’s coast provides thousands of well-paying jobs, government revenues and the fuel needed to run America’s cars and factories, heat our homes and the feedstock needed to make the materials we use every day.”

The Interior Department had already delayed the leasing program by five years to complete environmental studies. The department said in a brief statement that it was reviewing the appeals court decision.