A coalition of offshore drilling advocates started an ad campaign Monday urging President Obama to keep the Arctic open to oil and gas development.
The Arctic Coalition, which includes a broad swath of industry, labor unions and native groups, is focused on countering environmental activists’ efforts to convince the administration to stop all drilling in the Arctic.
The six-figure ad campaign will run one week in the Washington area, aimed at policymakers and the White House. It aims to demonstrate that offshore drilling isn’t only about energy companies, but it’s about the local and native communities who benefit from the jobs and investment that comes from drilling in Alaska.
“Without the lease sale option, there is simply no prospect of future investment in the infrastructure which we need,” said Kara Moriarty, president and CEO of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association. “I can’t stress this enough; taking lease sales off the table now sends a clear message that the federal government is hanging a ‘closed for business’ sign on our state, at a time when we are already facing huge budgetary challenges. The administration must think about what impact this will have on Alaska.”
The ad campaign urges the administration not to back away from the Arctic when it issues its final five-year offshore energy plan, which lays out where the federal government will lease to oil and gas companies.
The proposed five-year plan issued in March keeps the option open for drilling in Alaska’s Chukchi and Beaufort seas, while backing away from opening new leases off the Atlantic coast.
The coalition is worried that an ongoing “aggressive campaign” by environmental activists will sway the Interior Department to significantly restrict drilling in the Arctic, as well as other areas when it issues the final plan by the end of the year.
The administration allowed for drilling in the Arctic, while saying that the low price of oil likely will keep the industry from making the large investments required to drill in Alaska soon.
The environmentalists say the administration shouldn’t leave the option open for drillers, despite the unfavorable market conditions.
“Earlier this month the Wilderness Society became the latest to argue that industry’s ‘exit’ from the Arctic is proof that including the region in the offshore leasing program would be costly and unnecessary,” said Jeff Eshelman, senior vice president for public affairs at the Independent Petroleum Association of America and a member of the coalition.
“Quite aside from the skewed logic of arguing that companies will never again be interested in developing the Arctic based on today’s commodity price, the idea that we’re not interested in the Arctic simply isn’t true,” Eshelman said. “Today industry retains over 40 offshore leases in the Arctic and continues to invest millions of dollars into research into oil spill response and preparedness and other areas. This campaign is further proof that industry is fully committed to responsible offshore development in the region.”
The positive effect of the industry’s drilling in the region is good for jobs, raising wages and tax revenue, said Rex Rock Sr., president and CEO of the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, which is Alaska’s largest native-owned corporation.
“Moreover, continued exploration and development of the Arctic … would serve the national interest by contributing to the United States’ long-term energy security,” Rock said.
