President Obama took the “historic step” to ban offshore oil drilling in the Arctic and off the Atlantic coastline, the White House announced Tuesday afternoon.
The action represents a partnership between the United States and Canada “to build a strong Arctic economy, preserve a healthy Arctic ecosystem and protect our fragile Arctic waters, including designating the bulk of our Arctic water and certain areas in the Atlantic Ocean as indefinitely off limits to future oil and gas leasing,” the White House said.
The actions, and Canada’s parallel actions, reflect the scientific assessment that, “even with the high safety standards that both our countries have put in place, the risks of an oil spill in this region are significant and our ability to clean up from a spill in the region’s harsh conditions is limited,” the White House said.
“By contrast, it would take decades to fully develop the production infrastructure necessary for any large-scale oil and gas leasing production in the region — at a time when we need to continue to move decisively away from fossil fuels,” according to the statement.
“In 2015, just 0.1 percent of U.S. federal offshore crude production came from the Arctic, and Department of Interior analysis shows that, at current oil prices, significant production in the Arctic will not occur,” the statement added. “That’s why looking forward, we must continue to focus on economic empowerment for Arctic communities beyond this one sector.
“My administration has proposed and directed unprecedented federal investments in the region, but more must be done – by the federal government, the private sector and philanthropy — to enhance infrastructure and our collective security, such as the acquisition of additional icebreaking capacity, and to lay the groundwork for economic growth in the industries of the future,” Obama said.
The administration released a five-year drilling plan last month that withheld federal drilling leases in the Arctic, but many environmental groups said it didn’t go far enough.
In his draft proposal, Obama had included drilling in the Atlantic for the first time, but that was removed from the final five-year plan. The energy industry and states have been pressuring the government to open up the Atlantic coast for years.
The move is “deeply frustrating and one that will mean a bleak economic future for Alaska,” said Lucas Frances, a spokesman for the Arctic Energy Center, an industry trade group.
“The Arctic Energy Center’s research has shown that a significant majority of native and Alaskan people support offshore energy development in the Arctic, in a large measure because of the essential role the industry plays in the region’s economy,” Frances said. “By designating Arctic waters off limits for energy development, the president has prioritized environmental concerns over the well-being of the American people.”
The largest oil trade group in Washington, the American Petroleum Institute, said the decision moves the country in the wrong diection and vowed to press the incoming Trump administration to do away with the ban.
“We are hopeful the incoming administration will reverse this decision as the nation continues to need a robust strategy for developing offshore and onshore energy,” said Erik Milito, the groups’s director of upstream investment. “The U.S. offshore industry has a long history of safe operations that have advanced the energy security of our nation and contributed significantly to our nation’s economy.”
Meanwhile, environmental groups such as the Sierra Club celebrated Obama’s decision, saying the ban would help prevent the next administration from harming the environment.
“By removing the Arctic and Atlantic oceans from the five-year plan, President Obama declared that the preservation of our waters from offshore drilling is paramount to protecting our beaches, the climate and coastal economies,” said Sierra Club Director Michael Brune. “Today’s announcement reaffirms that fact and prevents future administrations from destroying our waters and coastal communities.”
