ABC News
Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest?
OffOn
US holds first oil lease sale for Alaska s Arctic refuge
The U.S. government has held its first-ever oil and gas lease sale for Alaskaâs Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, an event critics labeled as a bust with major oil companies staying on the sidelines and a state corporation the main bidder
By BECKY BOHRER Associated Press
January 6, 2021, 10:37 PM
⢠4 min read
Catch up on the developing stories making headlines.The Associated Press
JUNEAU, Alaska The U.S. government held its first-ever oil and gas lease sale Wednesday for Alaska s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, an event critics labeled as a bust with major oil companies staying on the sidelines and a state corporation emerging as the main bidder.
A state corporation has been given approval by its board to bid for acreage in a planned Jan. 6 federal lease sale in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Alaska Industrial Development Authority, or AIDEA the stateâs development finance corporation, was given authorization to place up to $20 million in bids for the acreage.
Former Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski thinks the idea is good because the state is in a unique situation of getting half its money spent on bids returned by the federal government, an advantage no private company has.
However, a former state oil and gas director, Kay Brown, questions whether the authority has the expertise or capability to participate in a lease sale as high-risk as ANWR.
Print article Alaska’s state-owned economic development corporation on Wednesday agreed to spend up to $20 million to buy leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s coastal plain in an effort to support future oil exploration and drilling there. The seven-member board of the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority unanimously granted the corporation’s director permission to bid following 90 minutes of public comments, a two-hour private meeting and a final 30-minute public session. The proposal faced broad public opposition, including complaints that the measure was being rushed through with little public review two days before Christmas. But several board members, in describing their support for the measure, said money from oil that flows from the refuge can support much-needed jobs in Alaska and pay for renewable energy projects that opponents of the investment have said they preferred.
The agency refused to tell the public the nature of the confidential matter.
Had the agency wanted to fill in the public about its secret plans, the meeting announcement would have mentioned the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. But it didnât.
AIDEA now wants Alaskans to believe that it was not trying to hide its plan to spend up to $20 million bidding on federal oil leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge before the end of the month.
Alan Weitzner, executive director of AIDEA, tells the Anchorage Daily News that the resolution approved by the AIDEA board Wednesday to spend $20 million on ANWR leases wasnât written when the meeting was announced.
Print article Alaska’s state-owned economic development corporation is proposing to spend $20 million for drilling rights in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s coastal plain. Alan Weitzner, director of the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, said Monday that the corporation’s board of directors will be asked on Wednesday to approve up to $20 million for bidding on leases being offered by the federal Bureau of Land Management. AIDEA could make minimum bids on all available leases, or as many as possible, to preserve drilling rights as a backstop if no one else submits a bid. Once seismic surveys take place and legal battles are settled, the state could then sub-lease to companies that would actually drill. Because AIDEA is interested only in having someone develop ANWR and doesn’t care who it would prefer to be outbid, Weitzner said.