U.S. COURT ALLOWS OFFSHORE ALASKAN EXPLORATION
A unanimous Supreme Court ruled that
oil and gas exploration can proceed on two tracts off the
Alaska coast which were leased by the federal government to
eight major oil companies.
    The ruling was an important victory for the oil companies
and the Reagan administration's controversial off-shore leasing
program and a setback for two small Alaskan villages that
challenged the leases by claiming damage to the environment.
    The administration said that the court-ordered halt in
drilling had created uncertainty over the 4.2 billion dlrs paid
for 621 leases off the shores of Alaska since December 1980.
    A federal appeals court ordered the oil companies to halt
all exploration and remove all drilling rigs from two tracts in
the Bering Sea off Alaska because of possible harm to the
subsistence needs and culture of native Eskimos.
    But the Supreme Court said the appeals court was wrong in
issuing an injunction halting exploration.
    "Here, injury to subsistence resources from exploration was
not at all probable," Justice Byron White wrote for the court.
"And on the other side of the balance of harms was the fact
that the oil companies had committed approximately 70 mln dlrs
to exploration to be conducted during the summer of 1985 which
they would have lost without chance of recovery had exploration
been enjoined," he said.
    The oil companies, Amoco Corp <AN>, ARCO, Exxon Corp <XON>,
Mobil Corp <MOB>, Sohio, Shell, Texaco Inc <TX> and Union Oil,
had said that voiding previously granted leases would result in
staggering financial losses.
    The first lease sale in 1983 involved 2.4 mln acres and
generated 318 mln dlrs while the second lease sale in 1984
covered 37 mln acres and produced 516 mln dlrs.
    Administration officials, saying the lease sales were
preceded by an intense environmental impact study, denied that
the oil and gas exploration would hurt subsistence resources.
    The Alaskan villages of Gambell and Stebbins, along with an
organization of Eskimo natives on the Yukon Delta, argued that
the drilling would hurt native hunting and fishing.
 Reuter
