According to Palin if new offshore drilling does not start then it will mean the end of oil production on the North Slope. Further plans for a new pipeline to carry natural gas to Lower 48 markets are at stake, too. But at the same meeting in downtown Anchorage, skeptical fishermen raised the specter of the Exxon Valdez oil spill as an example of the dangers of development. The mayor of the North Slope Borough said new oil and gas projects in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas aren’t worth the risk.
Mayor Edward Itta told that spill response is virtually impossible in Arctic waters. It is told that this is the battle for the future of oil and gas development in Alaska. It hit the Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center on Tuesday morning, as U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar made his second stop in Alaska to hear whether oil and gas development off the state’s coast is a good idea.
The Bush administration proposed a five-year, national leasing plan for offshore development. Off Alaska’s coast it would include lease sales in lower Cook Inlet, federal waters outside Bristol Bay and the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. Drilling supporters argued new exploration and development would create jobs in and outside Alaska while reducing the country’s reliance on foreign oil.
It is said that Alaska hasn’t received its fair share of revenue from previous offshore development. Oil and gas will continue to supply the majority of this nation’s energy for a long time. Sen. Lisa Murkowski said Alaska often feels left out of federal decision making and that the hearings this week appear to be the first of their kind.
