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Bush lifts oil and gas drilling ban for Bristol Bay
Alaska officials as well as local communities had asked for the ban to
be lifted, but environmentalists have warned against drilling in the
bay, which is also a major fishing area for salmon, crab and cod.
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said one or two lease sales in about
5.6 million acres of Bristol Bay will be considered for leasing in the
department's upcoming five-year 2007-2012 lease plan.
Separately, Bush lifted a drilling moratorium in an area of the central
Gulf of Mexico known as Lease Area 181, making that area available to
drilling.
The Gulf waters acted upon by the president is a small part of a much
larger 8.2 million acres that were approved for oil and gas development
by Congress last month in one of its last acts before adjournment.
“There will be significant opportunities for study and public comment
before any oil and gas development could take place in these areas,”
Kempthorne said.
The Bristol Bay waters were set aside for protection by Congress 1990,
but the ban was lifted in 2003 at the request of Sen. Ted Stevens,
R-Alaska, who argued that the area's oil and natural gas could be
developed while still protecting the fisheries.
But a separate presidential drilling ban was not to expire until 2012.
