Lease Sale 193 - Live Blogging!
4:30
The lease sale ended ealier this afternoon. Alaska Wilderness League staff, collegues from the group Pacific Environment and Leaders from Point Hope finished the day together with a nice meal to talk about next steps.
Here are a few highlights of today’s activities:
Thank you for tuning into the Chuckchi live blog coverag with Alaska Wilderness League!
Summary of final results
- 667 bids
- 488 blocks. Each block is 3 miles by 3 miles.
- 7 companies in total.
- $3,389,919,496 total bids
- $2,662,059,883 total high bids (That is $2.6 billion - that is higher than the previous high of about $2.1 billion in the 1980s.)
- Highest bid $105,304,581 block 6763 by Shell
- More detailed information of the lease sale results can be found at Minerals Management Service’s website
The press conference is about to begin. We hope to update after that. Stay tuned for highlights of today’s event.
Lease Sale 193- Thread #7- Visiting Writer Rachel James
12:13 P.M.
Visiting Writer: Rachel James, Pacific Environment, Anchorage (http://http://www.pacificenvironment.org/)
We are in hour 3 of the lease sale and I wanted to make a note about one of the ‘new kids on the block’. No one is surprised to hear that Shell and Conoco are majors that are bidding, but the name StatoilHydro is not a familiar one to most people in the room.
StatoilHydro is a Norwegian-based company that is partially owned by the Norwegian Government. In December, StatoilHydro was responsible for spilling more than 20,000 barrels of oil into the North Sea off Norway. Just one week ago I was in Norway with colleagues George Edwardson, Barrow, AK, and Robert Thompson, Kaktovik AK attending the Arctic Frontiers Oil and Gas in the Arctic conference with people from 23 other countries. We learned that due to the policy of the Norwegian Government Statoil Hydro does not conduct oil and gas activities in the Barrents Sea north of Norway in ice conditions because there is no proven technology to clean up an oil spill in broken sea ice conditions. Yet, lacking experience in sea ice conditions, they have become a player in the scene of the Chukchi.
The latest high bid is up to $81 million dollars with many over $50 million. National and local media are swarming outside the room. A press conference is about an hour away with the director of MMS from Washington DC. Thanks AWL for this blog and for all your hard work!
Lease Sale 193- Thread #6
11:50 Just back from another break
Wow! We are now getting into the high stake numbers. As I started to type this post a bid was annonced for $26 Million, we now just heard additional bids for Shell (block 6815) and Conoco Phillips exceeding $ 81 million.
Just outside Betsy Beardsley, the Director of Alaska Wilderness League’s Alaska office is talking with a reporter about important Polar Bear Habitat and the potential threats to marine mammals such as walrus, seals, beluga and Bowhead whale populations that are critical to the Inupiaq people’s way-of-life and subsistence and cultural activities. Very little scientific research has been conducted in the Chukchi Sea. The waters that are being leased contain an ecosystem that is very fragile and realtively unknown.
Lease Sale 193- Thread #5
11:20 P.M.
We had a chance to check in with friends and collegues during the break. It is amazing how incredibly cold the whole bidding process is. Pieces of our most pristine waters sold off to the highest bidder without taking the appropriate steps for protecting the marine life from potential oil spills and other harmful activities. Several watchdog groups have exposed DOI’s attempts to stem the flow of internal documents and information to journalists and the public throughout this process.
Recently, FWS Director Dale Hall recently admitted to both House and Senate Committees that he is acting in contravention to the law in delaying his final decision whether to list the polar bear. Alaska Native groups including the Native Village of Point Hope, The City of Point Hope and the Inupiat Community of the Artic Slope (ICAS) have passed resolutions in opposition to the proposed drilling as we discussed earlier. For Alaska Native people, the issue is deeply personal representing threats to whaling culture and a way of life that has existed for thousands of years. How an administration could be so careless and rush to judgement when the potential risks are so high is beyond comprehension.
Plans for development in the Chukchi Sea should be put on hold until the FWS makes a final decision regarding the polar bear’s ESA status, and until proven and effective oil spill clean-up technologies are developed.
Lease Sale 193- Thread #4
The bidding process has gone on now for about an hour. The auctioneer just called for a short break so participants can stretch thier legs.
In the last post I mentioned that Shell Oil (Gulf of Mexico incorporated) has dominated the bidding process over other competitors such as Conoco Phillips. It is important to mention that citizen activists across the country have staged demonstrations in protest of Shell Oil’s bid on Lease Sale 193 in the Chukchi Sea. The protests have taken place at Shell Oil gas stations in 5 states in conjunction with a protest by Alaska Natives and conservationists here in Alaska where we are reporting from now.
A key concern of citizens is that this lease sale is taking place within days of a potential decision by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)-also part of the DOI-to list the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and that this lease sale includes acreage in the heart of important polar bear habitat in Alaska’s Arctic Ocean. FWS had been under a deadline to list the polar bear by January 9, but announced on January 7 that they would delay the listing by approximately 30 days.
Lease Sale 193- Thread #3
The lease sale has begun with a special opening presentation from Minerals Management Service (Department of Interior) Director Randall Luthi who travelled to Anchorage for the Lease Sale from Washington DC. This is not standard to have the head of the agency introduce a lease sale. In his opening remarks presentation he reassured the public that oil and gas activities are compatable with local people’s subsistence activities and environmental protection. Though he stumbled over the prononciation of the word “Inupiat”, he assured everyone that the agency will do a better job of working with communities and ‘challenged’ oil companies to do their best as they move into the Chukchi.He also stated that the number of leases is the record Alaska lease sale for federal water ever. With over 667 tracts, this doubles the previous lease sales in federal waters in Alaska. He stated that the closest bid to shore is 57 miles from the community of Point Lay. He announced the lease sale will take over 4 hours to complete.
Only 30 minutes into the lease sale, Shell is the biggest bidder in terms of quantity and bids are ranging from $400 dollars to over $1 million for the 3 mile by 3 mile lease tracts.
Lease Sale 193- Thread #2
Just minutes before the lease sale is to begin reporters were able contact Native leaders from Point Hope to discuss concerns. Recently, coalition of environmental organizations and Inupiaq native groups filed suit in federal court in Anchorage to force the Interior Dept. to do a new analysis of the environmental consequences of oil and gas exploration in the Chukchi Sea, off northwestern Alaska. In this photo a reporter from the local News is interviewing Earl Kingik, a Native leader from Pt. Hope Alaska.
Live Coverage of Lease Sale 193- Thread #1
Anchorage, Alaska- This morning crowds are gathered outside the Loussacc public library in -12 degree temperatures to voice strong opposition to Department of Interior’s (DOI) controversial Lease Sale 193, comprising nearly 30 million acres of pristine waters in the Chukchi Sea of Alaska. Protestors included Natve leaders from Point Hope Alaska, Directors from Conservation Organizations and members of the public. The Chukchi Sea is critical habitat for polar bears, walrus, whales, seals, and migratory birds and is experiencing some of the most rapid loss of sea ice in the world due to global warming.
