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Bering Sea and Kamchatka

Bristol Bay: Timeline of Events

An aerial view of the Bering Sea and Kamchatka ecoregion
© Scott Dickerson

1986 - Lease Sale 92 offered 5.6 million acres in Bristol Bay and the southeast Bering Sea for offshore leasing

1989 - After the Exxon Valdez oil spill, a renewed outcry to protect Bristol Bay from offshore drilling resulted in Bristol Bay being added to a nearly-nationwide congressional moratorium on offshore oil and gas leasing

1990 - Protection for Bristol Bay was reinforced by a presidential withdrawal of the region from the federal offshore leasing program. The withdrawal, sometimes referred to as an executive deferral or presidential moratorium, was first enacted by President George Bush in 1990 and extended until 2012 by President Bill Clinton

1995 - Because the leases were made inactive by the moratorium, the Department of Interior reached a settlement to buyback the leases, calling it a "landmark protection for fragile offshore resources"

2003 - Congress removed Bristol Bay from the offshore moratorium

2007 - On January 7, President Bush lifted the executive withdrawal for Bristol Bay, its last layer of protection. The Minerals Management Service (MMS) has proposed holding lease sales in 2010 and 2012

Today - a broad coalition of stakeholders recommend the removal of Bristol Bay from the five-year plan.