Analysis of the permitting processes associated with exploration of Federal OCS leases. Final report. Volume II. Appendices Page: 279 of 282
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petroleum province, which contains several giant oil and gas fields. The lower Cook
Inlet is in more protected waters than the Gulf of Alaska, but winter storms have
clocked winds of over one hundred miles per hour, with heavy icing conditions.
Since the lower Cook Inlet is primarily an extension of the upper Cook Inlet, both
geologically and physiographically, and the infrastructure for oil development was
already in place, the State did not choose to oppose the lower Cook Inlet sale.
However, the State had been in a jurisdictional dispute with the Federal government
over who owned lower Cook Inlet ever since the discovery of oil in upper Cook Inlet.
This dispute was one of the primary reasons that no leasing had taken place in the area
prior to 1977. In 1975, a Supreme Court decision finally awarded the submerged lands
to the Federal government. The area was then offered for lease and the sale scheduled
for February 1977. When Cecil Andrus became Secretary of the Interior, he placed a
moratorium on all OCS leasing, thus cancelling the sale. It was then rescheduled for
October 1977. As discussed earlier, English Bay, a small native community located just
east of the sale area, attempted to halt the sale in court at the last minute, based on
environmental concerns involving potential loss of subsistence resources. The suit was
settled out of court and the sale was not further delayed.
The same two major permits were required for the lower Cook Inlet sale as for the Gulf
of Alaska sale. Conditions in Cook Inlet, however, were very different. Although EPA
went through the same administrative process for the vessels in this sale, a more
rigorous inspection process was instituted. This was due to the need for more stringent
water quality control in lower Cook Inlet, where there are highly sensitive biological
resources (primarily salmon, crab and shrimp) and a closed water circulation pattern.
By the time of this sale, the owners of the drilling vessels recognized the time problems
involved with the permitting process and, within a short time after the sale, twelve
vessels applied for discharge permits, many apparently on speculation. This only
compounded the problem for the understaffed local EPA office. As of this date, only
three vessels have operated in the lower Cook Inlet. The permits took six, eight and
eight and a half months to issue, and are a factor in the nine month delay in drilling. As
in the Gulf of Alaska sale, the potential for major delays still existed if any vessel had
been turned down for a discharge permit, although there were apparently more vessels
available for this sale.F-39
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Analysis of the permitting processes associated with exploration of Federal OCS leases. Final report. Volume II. Appendices, report, November 1, 1980; United States. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1184664/m1/279/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.