Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Obama extends Bristol Bay oil and gas leasing ban

Here's the White House press release.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

At least somebody is doing something to protect the Alaska fishing resource, because the Alaskans sure aren't.

Anonymous said...

Gee, what a good idea...in not common sense...But, I reckon that means the Keystone XL Pipeline is a done deal. The environment only wins once in a very very long while....like the Raiders or 76ers

eric grundberg said...

No matter what you think of Obama. You have to applaud his administration on this. Not very often do you see politicians looking to the distant future. Unlike the rest of the west coast Alaska has wild robust salmon runs that drive our coastal communities. If you rely on Alaskan fisheries take notice! Our delegation in DC and state elected officials believe salmon, open pit mines, oil drilling, gas drilling and industrial scale logging all work well together. Even a six year old who has walked a salmon stream could tell you that's wrong.
I guess we could go for the Washington state model. 3% wild fish and rely on hatcheries.

eric grundberg
petersburg

Anonymous said...

That was a half cocked Obama measure - why do you think he won't go full bore at some point in the next two years to just declare Bristol Bay, the world's largest sockeye salmon run, to be a national monument and then on to a World Heritage Site by the United Nations?

The justification will be a "model" that predicts in 100 years the world's largest sockeye salmon could go extinct and is therefore eligible for an ESA listing.

Of course that "model" will be based on 100 year Climate Change projections - necessitating the need for immediate declaration of National Monument status.

And to truly ensure that unique and exceptionally profound species and salmon watershed,

Then let the new national monument be managed according to the policies of the National Park Service - and then it can become a true wilderness area once again - without contamination from any type of human interference - in the place that always been...

Because that is the end game of the environmental movement.

Cease and desist -eventually coming to your industry soon.

Anonymous said...

@December 17, 2014 at 7:28 PM

Now there is some serious cynical clap trap if there ever was!

M. Ervice, Homer

Anonymous said...

Well said, anonymous. Of course this is just part of the environmentalist/communist conspiracy. First your guns, then your fish.

Anonymous said...

Glacier Bay went that route

Anonymous said...

And it starts as a drip and in the final two years the leaky faucet of enviro creep will flood coastal Alaskan waters.

Fresh off declaring Bristol Bay off limits forever to oil and gas exploration, next up: The Aleutian Chain.

Enviro groups are petitioning NOAA to create a marine sanctuary around the whole Aleutian Island chain. Came from Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, Center for Biological Diversity and several other Alaskan groups, including the Eyak Preservation Council.

But PEER is hoping the nomination will put the Aleutian Islands on President Obama's radar. In a press release today, the group asserts that marine sanctuary nominations "can set the stage for a rapid designation" as a national monument.

Indeed, presidents have created several marine protected areas in the past, and Obama used the Antiquities Act earlier this year to expand the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument. Such declarations come with immediate protections but can also duck the requirements and public buy-in of a marine sanctuary designation.

Good luck commercial fisheries in federal waters of Alaska - you invited the camel under the tent - have fun babysitting now that the target is on your back.

Yo Yo Yo What Day is It - What Day is It? It's Hump Day.