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Inlet lease sale area expanded for 2020-2028 areawide sales
Steve Sutherlin Petroleum News
The Alaska Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Oil and Gas issued a decision of substantial new information and a supplemental finding Dec. 17 for the 2020 Cook Inlet Areawide Lease Sale reflecting expansion of the sale area.
The division said the addition of the Southwest Cook Inlet exploration license area, and the receipt of substantial new information concerning lower Cook Inlet in response to its request for agency information issued Sept. 10, prompted the need for a supplement to the 2018 Cook Inlet Areawide best interest finding. (See story in Sept. 15 issue.)
“Substantial new information regarding exploration activities in the vicinity of the SW Cook Inlet Area has become available through public applications, industry press releases, and technical presentations and papers,” the division said in its decision. “There is a potential for near-term oil and gas exploration and development activities on the Iniskin Peninsula and in Cook Inlet federal waters.”
When it put out a request for substantial new information in September, the division said it was considering adding the Southwest Cook Inlet exploration license area. The Dec. 17 decision confirms that addition: The division will offer all available state-owned acreage, including the SW Cook Inlet area, in the expanded sale area at oil and gas lease sales to be held from 2020 to 2028, it said.
“After weighing the facts and issues known at this time, considering applicable laws and regulations, and balancing the potential positive and negative effects given the mitigation measures and other regulatory protections, the director finds the potential benefits of lease sales within the expanded Sale Area outweigh the possible negative effects,” the division said, adding, “The director finds that lease sales within the expanded Sale Area are in the best interests of the State of Alaska.”
SW Cook Inlet license area The Southwest Cook Inlet oil and gas exploration license area previously was issued to Cook Inlet Energy LLC on June 20, 2014, for a 4-year term with an option to convert to leases after a work commitment was satisfied.
The exploration license was relinquished in late 2015 prior to conversion to lease, but exploration activity has continued on adjacent Native corporation lands, the division said.
The Cook Inlet sale area boundary is expanded by about 169,000 acres, on and around the Iniskin Peninsula about 120 miles south of Tyonek.
“The SW Cook Inlet area is located on the west side of Cook Inlet across from Homer, Anchor Point, and Seldovia. The area extends south as far as Ursus Cove and north as far as Saddle Mountain and is bounded by the Kenai Peninsula Borough boundary to the west and federally owned Cook Inlet marine waters to the east,” the division said.
The four sections of state-owned land on the Iniskin Peninsula were originally conveyed to the state in the Alaska Statehood Act for the support of public schools, but in 1978 the Legislature transformed the public school trust from a land-based trust into a monetary trust and the school trust lands were designated general grant lands, the division said.
Alaska Range ecoregion The SW Cook Inlet Area is within the Alaska Range ecoregion, rather than the Cook Inlet basin ecoregion as is the rest of the sale area.
“Shorelines north of Anchor Point and Tuxedni Bay are primarily sediment controlled, while shorelines on the lower west side of Cook Inlet, including the SW Cook Inlet Area and Kalgin Island, are primarily bedrock controlled,” the division said. “Key habitats of the expanded Sale Area include fresh, marine, and estuarine waters and intertidal and terrestrial habitats that support fish and wildlife populations.”
Freshwater and anadromous fishes, including all five species of Pacific salmon, are found in the area’s waters. Waters that have been identified as important for anadromous fishes receive special protection. As of June 1, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has identified approximately 112 lakes and over 500 stream channels as important anadromous water bodies within the sale area, the division said. Expansion to include the SW Cook Inlet Area adds nearly 30 important anadromous stream channels.
The sale area has all or portions of 20 federal, state, and local legislatively designated habitat areas. The SW Cook Inlet Area adds an additional 100 acres of the Alaska Maritime Wildlife Refuge encompassing small islands and rocky outcrops offshore the Iniskin Peninsula, including Gull Island and Scott Island which support seabird nesting colonies, the division said.
Over 450 species of birds are found in Alaska, many of which occur year-round or seasonally in the Cook Inlet region. Waterfowl, shorebirds, and seabirds concentrate in specific sale area habitats.
The division said ADF&G provided updated information for trumpeter swans and Steller’s eiders in the SW Cook Inlet area, adding that aerial surveys of nesting habitats show that trumpeter swans have nested on the Iniskin Peninsula since the early 1990s.
Three stocks of northern sea otters exist in Alaska, the southwest and southcentral stocks occur in the sale area in lower Cook Inlet, the division said, adding that the most recent population estimate for lower Cook Inlet is 20,000.
Otters on the west side of lower Cook Inlet belong to the southwest stock, and those on the east side belong to the southcentral stock, the division said.
An abundance of uses Uplands in the SW Cook Inlet Area are predominately private lands owned by regional village corporations, the division said.
Fisheries in the region support commercial, subsistence, personal use, and sport harvest, it said, however the SW Cook Inlet Area is beyond areas where sport fishing is typically concentrated on the Kenai Peninsula.
Wildlife populations support hunting and trapping by local and nonlocal resident and non-resident hunters, it said.
“Communities using the SW Cook Inlet Area for subsistence include: Nikiski (bird eggs, shellfish) and Seldovia (shellfish) in Chinitna Bay accessing bird eggs by boat and shellfish by airplane (AOOS 2019); Port Alsworth (marine invertebrates, furbearers, small mammals), Iliamna (marine invertebrates, nonsalmon fish), and Pedro Bay (marine invertebrates, nonsalmon fish) with marine invertebrates and fish taken in Chinitna, Oil, Iniskin, and Iliamna bays, and furbearers and small mammals taken on the Iniskin Peninsula,” the division said. “The communities of Nanwalek and Port Graham, located on the east side of Cook Inlet, also rely on salmon and other resources from lower Cook Inlet.”
The director’s full decision and the supplemental finding are available online at: http://dog.dnr.alaska.gov/Services/BIFAndLeaseSale.
- STEVE SUTHERLIN
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