Alaska Outer Continental Shelf Chukchi Sea Planning Area Oil and Gas Lease Sale 193

Please find attached more than 48,000 comments from Defenders of Wildlife supporters regarding the Revised Draft SEIS, Lease Sale 193 Chukchi Sea. Many of these individuals signed on to a version of the text below, however some chose to personalize their comments. "As a concerned member of the public and a supporter of Defenders of Wildlife, I'm writing to urge you to protect polar bears and other Arctic wildlife by ensuring that no drilling takes place in Arctic waters before a plan is in place to gather essential information and there is proven technology to clean up a spill in the Arctic's unique conditions. The original environmental analysis for Chukchi Lease Sale 193 was rejected by a federal court because of its failure to fill critical data gaps, yet the revised draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement still does not remedy these errors. As the agency well knows, Shell Oil is pursuing an aggressive drilling plan in the Beaufort as well as the Chukchi making the environmental analysis for the rugged and pristine Chukchi sea all the more important. Furthermore, the government has admitted that no technology exists to clean up a spill in the Arctic's volatile sea ice environment. As you consider all proposed activities in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas, I urge you to ensure that there is more to the oil industry's response plans than just glorified mops and buckets. The Presidential commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster specifically concluded that there are "serious concerns" and "special considerations" regarding Arctic drilling and oil spill response. The agency must take these concerns seriously and address them in its final Environmental Impact Statement. The Arctic's rich marine environment is one of the least understood areas in the world..." (comments continue)