More Offshore Arctic Drilling: Just Say No

Michael Conathan urges the U.S. Department of the Interior to exclude any new lease sales in Arctic seas from the final five year plan it will release shortly after the election.

The Interior Department is expected to soon announce whether it will offer new offshore oil leases in the Arctic Ocean, which could launch another round of exploratory drilling in this remote and unforgiving region. Broad-based concerns shared by more than 100 coastal communities nixed proposals to open the Atlantic to oil and gas developers, and it is clear that Interior will continue its extensive oil and gas leasing program in the Gulf of Mexico. But the one question remaining on the table is whether Interior Secretary Sally Jewell will schedule new lease sales in Arctic waters that would then have to be carried out by her successor. She shouldn’t.

The above excerpt was originally published in Morning Consult. Click here to view the full article.

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