WASHINGTON — Blocked by stiff congressional opposition to opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling, the Bush administration is moving on its own to promote energy exploration in the icy waters off Alaska.
Government officials are inviting oil companies to bid later this year on the rights to drill in the Beaufort Sea off northern Alaska, an area unaffected by a moratorium on new offshore exploration in much of the rest of the country.
High costs have made oil companies leery about drilling in the sea. As an industry lobbyist noted: "A lot of really expensive dry holes have been drilled" in the Beaufort Sea.
In response, the administration proposes to offer millions of dollars' worth of incentives to encourage bids on leases expected to cover nearly 10 million acres, stretching from the Canadian border to the Alaskan city of Barrow.
The Alaskan coast may be one of the best hopes left to President Bush to achieve his goal of developing more domestic energy production.
In response to objections from his brother, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the president reduced drilling opportunities in the Gulf of Mexico, and agreed to spend $235 million to cancel unused oil and gas leases elsewhere off Florida's coast and in the Everglades.
More recently, the White House dropped a legal fight with California over old offshore oil leases, virtually ending the chance of new drilling off the state's coast. And last month, the Senate rejected Bush's bid to allow drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska's northeastern corner.
Faced with diminishing choices, the administration is looking elsewhere in Alaska -- especially in areas such as the Beaufort Sea, where drilling would not require congressional approval.
"If you look around, the Lower 48 is pretty drilled up," said Larry Cooke, a supervisory geologist in Alaska for the federal Minerals Management Service. "If you're looking for big things, Alaska is about the only place left."
Walter Cruickshank, the service's deputy director in Washington, added: "Alaska is one of the few places that the industry is still allowed to explore.... It can provide significant supplies if the resources that we believe are there ... turn out to be there and be economical to produce."
The big unknown is how much enthusiasm oil companies will show for the offshore leases when they come up for sale in September.
