Last year, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) prematurely scrapped an offshore management plan that protected Alaskan coastal waters from oil and gas leasing. Now, the agency is planning multiple leases for Lower Cook Inlet in their new 5-year plan. It’s vital that we continue to speak up for our coastal ecosystems, sustainable fisheries, and what’s best for our local economies.
A big thank you to everyone who submitted public comments opposing these proposed sales. With the holidays, we know it took special effort to engage. We cannot be silent as the Trump administration continues to prioritize oil and gas industry interests above the healthy environment our communities want and need.
With the comment period closed, BOEM will now review submissions and reevaluate the draft plan. Because this national plan proposes sales in areas historically or legally closed to leasing — like the North Bering Sea — we might see changes to the overall proposal. That said, because of the Alaska delegation and Trump administration’s focus on Cook Inlet, we expect the five leases in the agency’s draft to remain. These leases would cover 5 million acres, offering areas of Lower Cook Inlet not previously open to development.
Here’s what’s next:
- BOEM will publish a final draft and give the public another 90-day window to comment.
- To finalize the offshore plan by the end of 2026, they’ll need to deliver it to Congress this fall for a 60-day review before it’s made official.
- To meet that end-of-year deadline, we expect the next comment period will be this summer.
We’ll keep you updated as we find out exact dates for the comment period, and other ways you can help us oppose this leasing program.
Another offshore oil and gas threat is looming
Unfortunately, this 5-year plan is only part of a wider federal effort to promote an offshore oil and gas agenda in Lower Cook Inlet. In addition to the five leases BOEM has proposed, the Big Beautiful Bill mandates six more leases in these waters. The first of those is scheduled for this March, and is moving forward without public input. Last November, the Department of the Interior indicated they will use previous environmental reviews from the first Trump administration in 2017, rather than conduct new analysis before holding the budget bill-mandated lease sales. Relying on old analysis disregards nearly ten years of impacts from the increased pressures of climate change and industrialization.
Even a more recent analysis for 2022’s Lease Sale 258 was deeply flawed. Cook Inletkeeper and our allies successfully sued over its deficiencies and won. Despite the court ruling, the Trump administration approved Lease Sale 258 bids without any meaningful changes to mitigate negative effects by industry, or allowing public comment. This fits with the administration’s sweeping efforts to weaken and dodge environmental regulations and public engagement. It also shows how the mandated lease sale in March reaffirms a persistent disregard for public involvement and environmental impacts, including harms to critically endangered Cook Inlet beluga whales.
The negative impacts of oil and gas development here are not theoretical: Expanded leasing means increased risks of oil spills. BOEM’s official environmental review for Lease Sale 258 predicted a 1-in-5 chance of a major spill. That’s alarming because their new draft 5-year plan doesn’t consider the very real threat of tanker or barge spills, or catastrophic oil well blowouts at offshore platforms at all. They write, “Spills from tankers and barges make up most large oil spills in U.S. waters in the past 50 years.” Nevertheless, the current plan doesn’t include these risks.
BOEM’s approach to these environmental reviews for the budget bill-mandated leases and the 5-year plan shows a lack of regard for what’s best for the interwoven ecosystems of the Cook Inlet watershed, and for Alaskans. Our communities remember the devastation of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, and more recently, have watched Cook Inlet’s aging gas infrastructure leak and spill. As the primary operator of those accident-prone nearshore gas platforms in Upper Cook Inlet, the private oil company Hilcorp has racked up a terrible track record of environmental and regulatory violations in just over a decade in Alaska. This is especially concerning because the company was the only bidder during 2022’s offshore Lease Sale 258, and it could pursue further leases.
Alaskans are already living with the impacts of a warming climate, in big and small ways. Doubling down on unfettered oil and gas extraction is not a solution to those challenges. A fair transition to renewable energy will take time, but Alaska is rich in these resources, and they are rapidly growing cheaper and more reliable. Instead of economically nonsensical and environmentally damaging fossil fuel projects, we need our state and federal politicians to support long term renewable energy solutions.
Though it can feel frustrating to submit comments and express these concerns with an administration that is overtly pro-oil and gas, it remains crucial to speak up. With your continued support, Cook Inletkeeper will challenge these harmful leases every step of the way.