"Today's outcome reinforces that fossil fuel development in Cook Inlet is no longer a sound investment," said one campaigner."Alaskans know our climate crisis is no joke and are ready to move beyond the fossil fuel era."Environmentalists in Alaska and beyond pointed to the oil and gas industry's lack of interest in a Friday lease sale for nearly a million acres of seafloor as the latest evidence that the U.S. must move beyond fossil fuels and protect the Cook Inlet.
The Interior Department had initially canceled the lease sale in May, citing lack of industry interest, but was ultimately \u201cRemember when API agent Joe Manchin held his breath until they included mandatory offshore oil leasing in the #IRA, including in Cook Inlet, AK. Well @BOEM did as told & today opened the only bid they received, for a measly $64K from scofflaw Hilcorp.\n https://t.co/a5z570sELw\u201dCampaigners on Friday also took aim at the administration, while pledging to continue their fight to protect the region.
"We urge Interior to start by exercising its discretion not to issue a lease to Hilcorp, the sole bidder on the lease," he added."It is a troubled operator with a long history of violations, the lease on which it bid is in important habitat for endangered belugas, and there should be no more oil leasing in the Inlet for Hilcorp or any other company."
"The 1970s heyday of Cook Inlet oil and gas development is long behind us as illustrated, once again, with today's lackluster showing," declared Nicole Whittington-Evans, director of Defenders of Wildlife's Alaska Program."Policy for Cook Inlet waters needs to keep pace with modern reality and focus on addressing the biodiversity and climate crises we face."