In a move that is a slap to the face of the incoming administration of Joe Biden, 'Killer' announced he is ready to sell oil leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
[photo: C. Miller] The oil industry has struggled for decades to obtain drilling rights to the Refuge, the last wild sanctuary on the North Slope of Alaska. Joe Biden said he was against opening the refuge to oil and gas exploitation, so his administration would have to try and void any leases after the fact should the sale occur just before Inauguration Day on January 20th.
The Federal Register, Washington's official bulletin for legal announcements,
published a call for nominations on Monday that allows oil companies can designate which tracts they are interested in developing. Final sales could occur as soon as a comment period of thirty days has elapsed. Biden's administration could refuse to issue leases on the grounds that the scientific underpinnings for the sale are flawed, an allegation supported by environmental groups. The pristine Refuge is home to polar bears and caribou among other species. Conservation allies successfully resisted industry efforts to open the sanctuary to development until 2017 when Repugnants in Congress threw down the gates to Area 1002, the coastal plain within ANWR. Although some insiders believe that ANWR is not that valuable from a commercial standpoint.
Five of the six major U.S. banks--Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo-- are among the two dozen financial institutions around the world that have announced they will not fund any new oil and gas development in the Arctic Refuge.
Only one exploratory well has been drilled there, and its results were disappointing. According to one lawyer involved in litigation by shareholders of Standard of Ohio who wanted a valuation of the company's share in the KIC-1 well, "the discovery well was worthless". Well data was a closely guarded secret. Estimates of oil reserves beneath the Refuge are based on 1980's and older seismic data. Estimates as high as 12 billion barrels have been touted,
. In 2008 the Energy Information Agency estimated the recoverable reserves at 4.3 billion barrels, only enough to supply the United States for six months. Industry personnel are quick to point out that one "tight hole" does not mean an area the size of South Carolina does not contain commercial deposits. They totally ignore the value of biological diversity that lives there, which would be severely impacted by oil and gas development.
Use your voice because it matters, as the recent election reminded us. Submit a comment opposing lease sales in ANWR.
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| the dolchstoss by the November Criminals begins.... |
