Polar bears, bowhead whales, and native communities are safe from the oil spill devastation that their Gulf coast counterparts are still dealing with. The Obama Administration has announced that they are postponing oil drilling in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas off of Alaska’s northern coast until at least 2011. That includes Shell Oil’s plans to do risky exploratory drilling this summer.

The decision comes as part of a larger report on the Deepwater Horizon disaster that was delivered to the President by Department of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

As the Gulf Coast continues to endure one of the worst oil spills and environmental disasters in U.S. history, many people are reconsidering off-shore drilling as a viable solution for America’s energy needs.

Senators from coastal states are already threatening to stop potential climate and energy legislation that would continue offshore drilling, and already a proposed lease sale off the coast of Virginia has been cancelled as the first oil-slicked birds, turtles, and mammals are being found near the barrier islands in Louisiana.

Today is a big day in Anchorage. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar is in town to gather input to inform his agency’s decisions about opening the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) to energy development. Anchorage is home base to many major oil companies that operate on Alaska’s North Slope, so we expect a big turnout from both pro-development interests as well as those who are concerned about the environmental impacts of oil development in Alaska’s pristine waters.