Red Lodge Clearinghouse

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia found fault in April with an environmental analysis underpinning Interior's 2007-2012 outer continental shelf leasing plan. The court vacated the plan and sent it back to Interior to conduct a new analysis.

Environmental groups and native Alaskans had challenged Alaska offshore lease plans, arguing they would be environmentally harmful. But the court's decision left uncertainty about existing leases and future sales by vacating the 2007-2012 plan. Interior and the oil industry asked the court for clarification about its scope and not to vacate the plan while the new study is conducted.

A brief court order yesterday provides a stay of its earlier mandate vacating the plan while Interior revises an analysis of the environmental sensitivity of various offshore areas.

"In reconsidering its analysis, respondent is advised that the relief granted in the opinion issued April 17, 2009, relates only to Alaska, specifically leasing in Chukchi, Beaufort and the Bering Seas," the court brief states.

The American Petroleum Institute this month had asked the court to clarify the ruling before the next Gulf of Mexico lease sale, which is scheduled for Aug. 19 and covers acreage in the western gulf.

The court's order yesterday drew cheers from Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), a strong proponent of offshore drilling and industry ally. She said the decision as originally written could have forced the return of existing leases.

"If this court decision had not been addressed expeditiously, the potential impacts would have been severe," Landrieu said in a statement. "The Gulf of Mexico accounts for more than 20 percent of U.S. oil and natural gas production. If this court decision had gone forward as originally written, future domestic energy production from those areas would have been placed at risk.

Interior, in asking for clarification of the ruling in May, had said nixing the five-year plan could "call into question" the validity of nearly 500 existing leases in Alaska's Chukchi Sea and more than 1,800 others in the gulf.

Kristen Miller of the Alaska Wilderness League, one of the groups that brought the lawsuit, said the court order leaves in place the requirement that Interior conduct a revised environmental sensitivity analysis of its leasing plans and how they affect Arctic areas.

"It is a strong mandate from the court that is holding the Interior Department to making sure they do what the Bush administration did not, which is a robust analysis," said Miller, the group's director of government affairs.

Interior had asked that the court either stay the decision to nix the five year plan while the new environmental study is conducted -- which the court agreed to yesterday -- or reverse its decision to nix the plan.

Interior, in its May request, said it will halt Alaska leasing and industry exploration activities under the five year plan during its reanalysis. Specifically, Interior said it would not authorize activities under exploration plans for leases already sold in a February 2008 Chukchi Sea sale and would also delay a planned February 2010 Beaufort Sea lease sale if needed.

"After reconsideration, Interior could conclude that it should exclude the Chukchi or Beaufort Seas from leasing altogether. However, Interior could also conclude that the 2007-2012 Five-Year Program scheduled too many lease sales in those areas, or that it scheduled an appropriate number of lease sales," Interior’s filing stated. "No matter the result, Interior will promptly take actions necessary to implement its conclusions."

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