The Obama administration’s Interior Department issued its final five-year offshore oil and gas drilling plan on Friday, which reneges on a previous proposal by excluding drilling in the Arctic seas off of Alaska’s coast.
“Given the unique and challenging Arctic environment and industry’s declining interest in the area, foregoing lease sales in the Arctic is the right path forward,” said Interior Secretary Sally Jewell.
The industry has said that it is still very much interested in opportunities in the Arctic, and that removing leases in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas would stifle investment and the potential for job growth and increased production.
The plan, which designates leases from 2017-22, was a big win for environmental groups that had lobbied hard to exclude the Arctic.
“The plan focuses lease sales in the best places — those with the highest resource potential, lowest conflict and established infrastructure — and removes regions that are simply not right to lease,” said Jewell.
Drillers have threatened to appeal to a Trump administration to reverse the action and scrap the Obama plan.
