By Verner Wilson, World Wildlife Fund, August 2009

Presentation• Importance of Bristol Bay/North Aleutian Basin• Impacts of offshore drilling• Economic considerations• Take Action!

Importance of Bristol Bay and the Southeastern Bering Sea

• Locally, nationally, and globally important fisheries and marine mammal habitat

• 40% of total U.S. fisheries catch

• Valued at over $2 billion annually

USFWS

NOAA

USFWS

Bristol Bay: Rich FisheriesGroundfish

2005 Value after Processing (includes pollock, Pacific cod, and flatfish): $2.0 Billion

Pacific Halibut 2005 Ex vessel value: $170 Million

Salmon Ex vessel 2006 values:

Alaska Peninsula/ Aleutian Islands Salmon $17 Million Bristol Bay Salmon (includes sockeye and other species $94 Million

Kuskokwim Salmon $1 Million Yukon Salmon $3.6 Million

Total salmon: $115.6 million Shellfish

2006 Ex Vessel Values: Red King Crab 2006 ex vessel value $78 million

Tanner Crab 2006 ex vessel value $1.2 million Total shellfish: $79.2 million

State-Managed Groundfish 2005 Ex Vessel Values:

Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands $413,000 Alaska Peninsula $3 million

Bristol Bay (Togiak) Herring Sac Roe 2006 Ex Vessel Values:

Seine $1.7 million Gillnet $890,000

Total herring: $2.6 million

OVERALL TOTAL VALUE: More than $2 billionSources: North Pacific Fisheries Management Council, Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game

Cumulative impacts on fisheries

• Overfishing• Bycatch• Global warming• Ocean acidification• Pebble Mine• Offshore drilling

Proposed lease sale area overlaps with fishing grounds and habitat for:

• Pollock• Cod• Flatfish• Halibut• Herring• Salmon• Red king crab• Tanner crab

Fishing Vessels: Cannot fish near rigs, rigs may get in way of fishing gear, fishing areas closed during construction/seismic testing

Source: FEIS for 2007-2012 Leasing Program

What will happen to AEB fisheries, valued at over $162 million per year?

Pelagic Trawl Fishery 2005: Pollock

2005 Bottom Trawl Fishery: Pacific Cod and Flatfish

2005 Longline Fishery: Pacific Cod

Based on 2005 fishery

observer data

Fish Harvest in proposed drilling area:

Source: North Pacific Fisheries Management Council, 2006

Bristol Bay Red King Crab Nearly 100%

Sea to Sphere: Wide Spectrum of Impacts

• Seismic impact• Contaminated

discharges• Oil/gas spills• Infrastructure impacts• Climate Change• Ocean Acidification

MMS

Unavoidable Risk: Spills

“The following potential spills have been postulated for waters of the North Aleutian Planning Area under the proposed action: up to one large condensate spill (i.e. ≥ 1,000 bbl); up to 2 spills with volumes between 50 and 999 bbl; and up to 10 spills with volumes less than 100 bbl.”

UP TO 13 SPILLS IN BRISTOL BAY!

Minerals Management Service, Final EIS for the 5-Year Outer Continental Shelf Leasing Program for 2007-2012

Marine impacts of Natural Gas Spills

• Especially severe consequences for human health and biota have been observed in the basin of the low Volga River in the zone of development of the Astrakhanskoe gas condensate field [Ecology and impact of natural gas on organisms, 1989].

• Especially dramatic situations developed in the Sea of Asov as a result of two large accidents on drilling rigs in the summer-autumn of 1982 and 1985. These accidents caused long-term releases of large amounts of natural gas into the water accompanied by self-inflaming of the gas. and drastically disturbed the composition and biomass of the water fauna and caused mass mortality of many organisms, including fish and benthic mollusks. Similar incidents probably took place in other regions of the world as well.

Source: Environmental Impact of the Offshore Oil and Gas Industry by Stanislav Patin

Spills from OCS Operations

• Spill rates from platforms improved over last 30 years

• Spill rates from OCS pipelines increased MMS

“The spill rates for U.S. OCS pipelines in the last 15 years are slightly higher than the entire record, with rates for spills greater than or equal to 1,000 bbl…”

Anderson and Labelle, MMS (2000)

Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

• 220 platforms & drilling rigs destroyed or seriously damages

• Damage to 535 pipeline segments

• More than 154 spills totaling more than 700,000 gallons

• Largest spill: 3,625 barrels (152,000 gallons)

Source: MMS

David Helvarg

Chronic Spillage from OCS Operations

• Between 1985 & 1999, there were 19,506 spills between 0 and 42 gallons (Anderson & Labelle, 2000)

• Oil/gas toxic at very small quantities

• Can cause range of sublethal & lethal impacts such as mutations & reduced reproductive capacity

NOAA

Oil Spill Impacts on Fisheries

• “…a large spill could adversely impact hundreds of millions of eggs and juvenile stages of pelagic species, including those of anadromous fishes that spawn upstream in tributaries of Bristol Bay.”

Minerals Management Service, Final EIS for the 5-Year Outer Continental Shelf Leasing Program for 2007-2012

Offshore Seismic Surveys: Effects on Fish & Marine Mammals

“There is evidence from caged and field trials that if seismic is sustained in a confined area then it may lead to mass emigration of fish from an area.”

Rob McCauley, PhD, Seismic Researcher

• Kill fish eggs, larvae, juveniles at close range; sublethal effects include damage to fish ears, other tissues and organs, reduction in fish catch rates

Other Acoustic Impacts

• Seafloor separators designed to improve platform safety introduce continual and significant acoustic disturbance

• Long-term stress to living aquatic organisms poorly understood

Contaminated Drilling Discharges

“Up to 20 exploration wells are anticipated, which could result in the release of up to 10,440 tons of

cuttings.”

Minerals Management Service, Final EIS for the 5-Year Outer Continental Shelf Leasing Program for 2007-2012, p. IV-181

• Offshore operations produce contaminated waste streams

• Include heavy metals such a mercury, petroleum residues, radioactive materials

•Mercury levels ten times higher at zones near platforms

Effects of Contaminated Drilling Discharges

• Smother fish/crab eggs & benthic invertebrates

• Alter seafloor communities

• Contaminants in sediments & tissues of fish

NOAA, D. Hyrenbach “Settling of discharge

cuttings on the seafloor could smother some prey species, displace some managed groundfish species, and change substrate composition in the area where the cuttings settle.”

Minerals Management Service, Final EIS for the 5-

Year Outer Continental Shelf Leasing Program for 2007-2012

Footprint of Infrastructure

Development scenario: • Up to 20 exploration wells• 200 production wells• 4-6 platforms

• 150 miles of offshore pipeline (impacting up to 555 acres of benthic habitat)

• 50 miles onshore pipeline• 2 pipeline landfalls • Waste facility, processing

facility, LNG plantSource: MMS

Infrastructure Construction & Emplacement

• Habitat loss and degradation

• Erosion, increased sedimentation, & water pollution

“Pipeline crossings (onshore) of streams could affect Essential Fish Habitat (EFH) for several life stages of managed anadromous salmon, including eggs, larvae, juveniles, and adults.”

Minerals Management Service, Final EIS for the 5-Year Outer Continental Shelf Leasing Program for 2007-2012

“Water quality would be degraded near construction sites by runoff of particulate matter, heavy metals, petroleum products, and chemicals into local streams, estuaries, and bays.”

Minerals Management Service, Final EIS for the 5-Year Outer Continental Shelf Leasing Program for 2007-2012

“Nelson Lagoon and the northwestern part of Port Moller are the most sensitive habitat areas … Eel grass and salt marshes are reported to occupy large areas of sheltered tidal flats in this bay and lagoon system. The Port Moller Critical Habitat Area (CHA) encompasses probably the most biologically productive and sensitive of these areas.

- Bristol Bay Area Management Plan

Balboa BayLNG Plant proposed

Increased Shipping, off limits to fishing?

Contamination?

YOKOHAMA TRADING CORPORATION

To Gen. Director ofTrading-Industrial Union Ltd.Mr. Zotkin V.I.

Dear Viktor Ivanovich!Thank You for long-term cooperation.As You know in 2004 we are planning to

purchase about 500 tn of frozen salmon and not less than 100 tn of frozen salmon caviar produced by Trading-Industrial Union Ltd. plants. However, taking into account the beginning of LNG Plant construction in Prigorodnoye and especially the dredging works in Aniva Bay, we kindly ask You to ship to us only the raw fish caught on the eastern shore of Sakhalin island. We hope for your understanding on this matter.

With respect,Representative of the Company on SakhalinKim Kha Bok

Effects on Marketing & Branding

“Even if stocks of fishery resources are not reduced as a consequence of a spill, specific fisheries could be closed due to actual or perceived contamination of fish and shellfish tissues. Such closures could result in considerable loss of income.”

• Minerals Management Service, Final EIS for the 5-Year Outer Continental Shelf Leasing Program for 2007-2012

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“Oil Drilling Gives Cancer Risk to North Sea Fish – Norwegian Scientist Study”

Reuters, November 2003

Hazards to Development

• “…the potential for a large earthquake in this block poses a significant threat to hydrocarbon exploration and production

facilities.”

• Minerals Management Service, Final EIS for the 5-Year Outer Continental Shelf Leasing Program for 2007-2012

Weather: Ice and Storms

Lack of Science and Data Gaps

• NMFS Comments on OCS Leasing Program- recommended deleting Bristol Bay from program, stated:

“proposed leasing schedule was unrealistically ambitious and would not allow for necessary environmental research to support NEPA analysis or MMS’ leasing process.”

• November 2006- North Aleutian Basin Science and Planning Meeting- experts identified a large number of information gaps for fish, marine mammal, and seabird species in the region

- concluded that the necessary biological and ecological data for species that occur in the Bristol Bay region is not sufficient to meet the requirements of NEPA nor ESA

Magnitude of Risk is Severe

• Potential for long-term, population-level impacts to fish, marine mammals, and birds

• Entire regional economy dependent upon fisheries

• Cultural/social impacts of loss of subsistence resources could be devastating

Photo: NOAA

No Place Else Like It on Earth

• There is no precedent for offshore drilling in a place like the southeast Bering Sea

“Any change to this (southeastern Bering Sea) rich ecosystem that causes a reduction in the productivity, change in species composition, or change in the portion of the food web that is usable by mankind, will have a severe societal impact.”

Stabeno et al. (2001) On temporal variability of the physical environment over the south-eastern Bering Sea. Fisheries Oceanography 10:1. (81-98).

AEB Mitigation measures• Proposed Mitigation Measures• Include :• • Fish or shellfish catches are not• adversely affected by OCS• activities.• • Fishermen are not displaced or• precluded from access to• fishing areas unless they are• adequately compensated.• • Offshore operations must use• best available oil spill• prevention and response• technologies.• • OCS operators will be required• to submit a local hire and• training program.

Despite the good intention of these measures, they are hard to regulate, unenforceable and therefore ineffective

Cheaper heating oil/gas?

Shell: Cannot guarantee cheaper oil/gas

Anchorage, North Slope communities still have among the highest prices for oil and gas: International market

Gas companies not required to sell gas/oil at cheaper rates

Tax Revenue?

• Lease Sale 214– Federal Waters– Alaska excluded from

revenue sharing program– Louisiana still among the

poorest states– 2005: Bush pushes to give

2/3rds of BB offshore drilling royalties to Louisiana

Jobs?• From MMS 2007, Chukchi Sea EIS, p. III-3:• Very few North Slope natives have been employed in the oil-production facilities

and associated work in and near Prudhoe Bay since production started in the late 1970’s. . . . A study contracted by MMS shows that 34 North Slope natives interviewed constituted half of all North Slope natives who worked at Prudhoe Bay in 1992, and that the North Slope natives employed at Prudhoe Bay comprised <1% of the 6,000 North Slope oil-industry workers (USDOI, MMS, 1992). This pattern is confirmed by 2003 data showing only 23 NSB Inupiat residents as employed in the oil industry (see Table III.C-2).

• The account of one Native provides an example of a Native who has found work in the oil industry in the past. Mr. Long found oil-industry work in 1969, first as a roustabout, later as a floor hand on a drill rig, and then as a chain thrower. Mr. Long indicates that in recent years, operations are so automated the industry needs fewer workers and, thus, workers have more difficulty finding jobs

• Most of the workers will work offshore or onshore in worker enclaves separated from local communities. Most OCS workers will likely commute to work sites from larger population centers or from outside the immediate area. It is assumed that OCS jobs would be available to local populations in the area, but that rural Alaskan employment in the petroleum industry will remain relatively low. Particularly during the early stages of exploration and development, it is reasonably foreseeable that in rural Alaska ther would be tens of jobs rather than hundreds of jobs, and many of them would be short-term and seasonal rather than permanent

Jobs: What the federal government says

• Social systems in the Aleutians East Borough could potentially be disrupted by OCS development. A large influx of permanent oil and gas industry workers in the communities of Nelson Lagoon and/or Sand Point could have significant impacts on my social systems, including cultural and subsistence practices, local elections, subsistence-use conflicts, education, local government structure, and public access

The Impacts of offshore drilling for the Aleutians East Borough: FEIS

• Increased population, minor gains in revenues, and the consequences of oil spills all contain the potential for disrupting coastal communities…

The Impacts of offshore drilling for the Aleutians East Borough: FEIS

Oil and Gas Estimates

• 0.75 billion barrels of oil • 8.62 Trillion cubic feet of

gas (Mean technically recoverable)

• Small amount of oil and gas compared to other places

MMS

Source: MMS 2006 Assessment Undiscovered Technically Recoverable OCS Resources

Sustainable Future for Southwest Alaska!

Renewables

Ecotourism

Improving fishing

Protecting Southwest Alaska

• Coalition of environmental, fishing and community groups

• Outreach to Local Communities, people• Working in Capitol Hill• Fishermen’s petition: 1000 signed!• YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

– Provide Comments to the Interior Department before September 21 st Deadline

– Contact local and state leaders• Demand more studies and plans

– Let others know

To Make a Comment

• To make a comment, go to the site to access the comment form for the five-year program: http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#submitComment?R=09000064808e9d16

• Mailing Address:Department of the Interior1849 C Street, N.W.Washington DC 20240

• Phone: 202-208-3100E-Mail: feedback@ios.doi.gov

Presentation

• Importance of Bristol Bay/North Aleutian Basin• Risks of offshore drilling• Economic considerations• How to take Action

Thank you!