ANCHORAGE, Alaska—
Federal regulators are seeking the advice of coastal communities to help decide what to do about offshore drilling. The Interior Department paid a visit to Alaska Thursday, where oil spill experts told officials of the need for more field testing.By 8 a.m., word had gotten around: federal regulators were in town, and they wanted to talk oil.
Inside the Dena’ina Center, a group of invited experts prepared for the rare opportunity to voice their confidence -- or in some cases concern -- about Alaska's ability to respond to an Arctic oil spill.
“The reform of the bureau must ensure that agency culture becomes one of a regulator rather than a partner to industry,” said Marilyn Heiman with the Pew Environmental Group.
The Interior Department’s newly formed Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement, or BOEM, replaced the Minerals Management Service after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It's also the office that put a hold on offshore drilling.
Michael Bromwich, BOEM’s first director, mainly listened to people’s comments Thursday.
“My sense is that this administration has succumbed to political pressure to pull Alaska activity into the moratoria in reaction to the Gulf spill, even though it had no defensible justification for doing so,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
The moratorium on deepwater drilling is set to expire at the end of November, but stricter new regulations have put a hold on shallow-water drilling in Alaska. Bromwich offered little information as to when companies like Shell Oil will be allowed to move forward with plans to explore the Beaufort and Chukchi seas.
“If industry behaves well and does what it's supposed to do, then they'll be allowed to do their work,” Bromwich said. “If they don't and they violate our regulations, or they do what they’re not allowed to do, we will be much more aggressive than we have in the past.”
Industry experts and scientists told Bromwich there's been a shift in recent years away from oil spill field-testing to more laboratory and computer work. Some who testified say there needs to be more realistic research, which might involve a controlled spill in icy water.
“In many cases, a lot of the studies that are funded now tend to say, ‘We know we're going to be sued, we know we're going to go to court -- what kind of science do we need to protect ourselves in court?’” said Dr. Michael Castellini, with the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ fisheries and ocean sciences program.
A group of state lawmakers also showed up, but were not given the opportunity to testify. They say they had very short notice of the forum.
“Quite honestly, I found out about it because I got a call from a concerned citizen saying, ‘Did you know this was happening?’ I didn't,” said Rep. Craig Johnson.
When asked about attendance of Thursday’s meeting, Bromwich noted that Anchorage turned out more participants than any other forum -- even more than one recently held in Louisiana. He says it’s a sign that in Alaska, there's a lot on hold.
Contact Ted Land at tland@ktuu.com
