Obama Administration Closes Arctic and Atlantic Coasts to New Offshore Drilling

Five-year plan keeps crucial bird habitat safe from new oil and gas leases. Yesterday, Nov. 18, National Audubon Society issued a press release announcing that the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will remove the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans from offshore leasing for the next five years, through 2022. This move protects areas with critical wildlife habitat.

That Atlantic waters would not be in the lease plan is not a surprise, Audubon says on its website: "The Obama administration announced in March of this year that it would not pursue leases there after an outcry from environmental and business groups and, more surprisingly, the Pentagon, which claimed that oil rigs would impede offshore training exercises critical to protecting the East Coast."

But until this most recent announcement, three leases in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas, and 10 sales in the Gulf, were still under consideration. It is those three Arctic sites that have been pulled from the latest lease plan.

"Hitting the pause button on offshore drilling in the Arctic is exactly the right thing to do,” said David Yarnold, president and CEO of the National Audubon Society. “Offshore drilling is a dirty and dangerous business, and removing the Arctic Ocean from the offshore leasing plan gives everyone time to think hard about how well water and oil mix. The Obama administration understands that the productivity of our oceans is jeopardized when we drill in the wrong places. We should be thinking first about protecting ocean life and quickly moving to cleaner sources of energy."

According to the National Audubon Society, there are 10 "globally-significant Important Bird Areas" that support millions of birds in the Arctic Ocean and along its shoreline in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. The Chukchi and Beaufort seas also tout polar bears, walruses, four species of ice seals, and several species of whales.

“The Arctic Ocean contains vital ecological areas that are critical for the survival of many birds and wildlife species,” said Nils Warnock, Executive Director for Audubon Alaska. “This prudent five-year program prevents new leasing in this crucial habitat at a time of unprecedented ecological change in the Arctic.”

Audubon stresses that offshore from Barrow, the farthest north community in the US, lies a a hot spot of biodiversity. The seafloor drops dramatically and creates an underwater canyon there. When the cold Arctic current encounters this barrier, it rises to create a fertile upwelling of foods consumed by many types of larger marine animals, such as bowhead and beluga whales.

Then in the shallower waters of Harrison Bay, millions of birds congregate to tap rich aquatic foods. The Colville River is Alaska’s largest Arctic river, and the nutrient supply from the Colville combines with water from Harrison Bay. The sheltered waters support diverse bird species of concern, from Artic terns to Yellow-billed loons, from Surf scoters to King eiders. The Proposed Final Program now goes to Congress for a 60-day period, before BOEM registers the final Record of Decision.

Donald J. Trump takes office January 20, and the Republicans will control both the House and the Senate. There is grave concern in environmental quarters about what the president-elect and his administration will or won't do concerning wildlife protection and climate change. Theoretically or practically, any actions Obama has taken could be reversed under President Trump. FOR MORE INFORMATION: The Vital Arctic Ocean Areas Storymap highlights ecologically important areas, told through articles written by Arctic field biologists and researchers. The National Audubon Society saves birds and their habitats throughout the Americas using science, advocacy, education and on-the-ground conservation.

PHOTO: An Arctic tern; Wikimedia Commons Image, Andreas Weith, Aug. 3, 2015: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:AWeith