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Feb 07th

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Young Slams Markey Lease Sale Shut Down Bill

Rep. Don Young

Washington DC – Representative Don Young of Alaska (R) issued a public letter against Representative Markey of Massachusetts (D) denouncing his attempt to shut down oil and gas Lease Sale 193 with House Bill HR 5058. The lease sale is for oil and gas exploration rights on the Outer Continental Shelf OCS within the Chuckchi Sea off Northwest Alaska.

Representative Markey, a staunch foe of Alaskan natural resource use regularly issued bills attempting to declare the 10-02 Area of ANWR as “Wilderness” to permanently block oil and gas exploration. Representative Young states the huge estimates for oil and gas reserves in the 193 lease area and its importance to the national energy supply makes it vital that the sale continue. Lease Sale 193 has recently completed a 50 day public comment period by the US Minerals Management Service (MMS). Lease Sale 193 is the first lease sale within the Chuckchi area since 1991. So far 4 other OCS lease sales have taken place resulting in 483 leases for an average period of 10 years

The Mineral Management Service of the Department of Interior is responsible for issuing the call for bids and subsequent leases of land and offshore areas in the US. A Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) was issued in June 2007 for lease sale 193 as required by the National Environmental Policy Act NEPA. Within the FEIS guidelines for responsibility of monitoring activity within operations of the lease are set. This involves the Department of Commerce, the National Marine Fisheries Service, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations.

Representative Young’s letter chastises Representative Markey for blocking natural resource projects when his home state itself produces no energy for the nation. Representaive Young states statistics on the economic value of home production of energy versus importing from abroad and the subsequent cost to the nation.

You can read the Young letter here.

For further information see:
http://www.mms.gov/alaska/
http://republicans.resourcescommittee.house.gov/
State of Alaska Public Notice