History of Oil and Gas Leasing in Bristol Bay
This is not the first time that Bristol Bay has been in the news due to the potential for oil and gas drilling in its waters. In 1986 the Minerals Management Service coordinated the North Aleutian Basin Lease Sale #92. Following two years of litigation, 23 leases for drilling in the area were arranged in 1988 (MMS, 2006). These leases were purchased by eight different companies and corresponded to a 121,757 acre section of Bristol Bay and the nearby Bering Sea (AMCC, 2006). However, following the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in which 11 million gallons of oil were released into Prince William Sound, the region encompassing Bristol Bay was added to a congressional moratorium on offshore drilling (AMCC, 2006). The 23 leases that had been previously offered for the area were given up during a court settlement in 1995 (MMS, 2006). No drilling associated with these leases ever occurred.
The congressional moratorium on drilling in the Bristol Bay region lasted from 1990 to 2003 (MMS, 2006). However, the moratorium was lifted in the Interior Appropriations Act for 2004 (AMCC, 2006). Despite the removal of congressional protection for the area, Bristol Bay was still under the protection of a presidential leasing withdrawal issued by President Bill Clinton in 1998. This presidential withdrawal was designed to protect the Bristol Bay region from offshore drilling through June 30, 2012 (AMCC, 2006). This is the withdrawal that was recently lifted by President George W. Bush, as announced on January 9, 2007 (U.S. Dept. of the Interior, 2007).
 |
The area of the Exxon Valdez oil spill compared to the Bristol Bay Region Map obtained at www.akmarine.org (4) |
|---|