By Margaret Bauman
Alaska Journal of Commerce

Oil and gas officials, the environmental community and Alaska Native corporations are all weighing in on proposed federal legislation to permanently halt oil and gas leasing in Bristol Bay.

The Bristol Bay Protection Act was introduced April 19 in the U.S. House of Representatives by Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., and Wayne Gilchrest, R-Md. The measure comes in the face of mounting concern over the permitting of offshore oil and gas development in Bristol Bay.

Bristol Bay forms a large portion of the North Aleutian Basin planning area included in the federal Minerals Management Service proposed five-year Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas leasing program for 2007-2012. Shell Oil Co. had pushed to have the area included in the five-year plan.

Judy Brady, executive director of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, said the reason the Interior Department recommended lifting a presidential ban on drilling in the area was because there was so much public support to do so — from local groups in Bristol Bay, Alaskans in general and the public nationally. “If there was not that support, it never would have happened,” Brady said.

“This is just the start of the process,” she said. “There will be studies, environmental impact statements, lots of opportunity for public comment as we move this whole long process that you have to move through when you open an area.”

Given advances in technology, people do not have to choose between oil and gas and fishing, she said. “We've had very successful international offshore experiences in the North Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and Cook Inlet, and around Norway, which is a fishing area. We've had a lot of good experiences with having offshore oil in the midst of important fishing centers.”

Conservation groups, who support the legislative measure, see it differently.

Eric Siy, executive director of the Alaska Marine Conservation Council, called the bill “the first step on the path to permanent protection of Bristol Bay, and none too soon.

“Unless Congress acts to safeguard the vital resources now at stake, draft plans to open Bristol Bay to leasing will soon become a reality,” he said.

Siy said the legislation establishes the national importance of Bristol Bay and growing national desire to see it protected. “The more people learn about Bristol Bay and it's special character, the more motivated they are to protect it,” he said.

AMCC's stand is focused on protecting the bay from inappropriate development, “but we want to see investment in the renewable economy that is already there,” he said. “That's a far better bet for the future than putting it all on the line for what is ultimately a minor amount of fossil fuel.”

The World Wildlife Fund issued a news release from its Washington, D.C., headquarters, hailing the legislation.

“Oil and gas drilling in Bristol Bay is a risk we can't afford to take,” said Carter Roberts, president and chief executive officer of the World Wildlife Fund. “It would jeopardize the nation's most important fishery, hundreds of communities reliant on fishing and a treasure trove of wildlife.”

Commercial fishing in Bristol Bay generates more than $2 billion annually in salmon, halibut, herring and crab fisheries. Sport anglers and hunters also pump millions of dollars into the area economy, and the wildlife support residents heavily dependent on a subsistence lifestyle.

Bristol Bay is also home to five national wildlife refuges, where inhabitants include walruses, harbor seals, northern sea otters and endangered species, including Stellar sea lions, humpback and fin whales, and the most endangered whale species, the North Pacific population of northern right whales.

Tom Hawkins, executive director of the Bristol Bay Native Corp., is opposed to the legislation.

“Although we only own land onshore, the most attractive geological part of that basin is in the OCS,” Hawkins said. “We don't think the industry will show up and explore onshore in Bristol Bay or near shore on state tidelands if they don't have access to the most promising part of the basin, which is in the federal OCS.”

As landowners in the area, the BBNC could see economic benefits from onshore development.

Hawkins said BBNC took a position in 2003 in support of lifting the presidential moratorium on drilling in Bristol Bay. “We spelled out the concerns about protecting the fisheries, but we thought the land should be put in play,” he said. “Otherwise we don't think the oil and gas industry is going to bother with the land we have onshore. That's our analysis of the situation.”

Margaret Bauman can be reached at margie.bauman@alaskajournal.com.