Salazar defends approval of Shell’s Arctic plan

Shell has for years been seeking to drill its existing leases in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas, while environmentalists wants to keep the fragile region off-limits.

We have more on the lawsuit and Shell’s plans here, here and here.

A senior Interior official said at the same briefing Friday that the agency is on track to issue its proposed 2012-2017 offshore leasing plan this fall.

“We are on track with our schedule, so keep on the lookout for that because it will be out soon,” said Tommy Beaudreau, who heads Interior’s new Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (one the agencies created through the restructuring of offshore oversight that followed the BP oil spill).

The 2012-2017 leasing plan is sure to stoke political battles between the Obama administration and Republicans who want to vastly expand the areas made available for exploration.

The administration, in March of 2010, said it 2012-2017 plan would include tracts off the Atlantic Coast, more areas off Alaska, and more areas in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico (if Congress lifted a moratorium there).

But Interior walked away from that planned expansion in December. Salazar announced the five-year plan would forgo leasing in the Atlantic and eastern Gulf, and sounded more cautious notes about expanding leasing in Alaska.