The Arctic Council endorsed the latest version of the Arctic Offshore Oil and Gas Guidelines (AOOGG) in April 2009. The AOOGG were prepared by the Protection of the Marine Environment Working Group (PAME) and are intended to define a set of recommended practices and outline strategic actions for consideration by those responsible for regulation of offshore oil and gas activities in the Arctic. As active participants in the Arctic Council, the United States and Canada have the potential to demonstrate model practices for offshore oil and gas development in their neighboring offshore areas of the Western Arctic Ocean, especially as each country reviews its procedures in light of the fatal April 2010 Deepwater Horizon blowout and explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. This paper outlines national laws and regulations existing at the time of the accident to suggest how both countries, as they revisit their procedures, can use the Arctic Council guidelines to more effectively regulate Operating Practices in offshore oil and gas development in the Western Arctic.

The Arctic Council endorsed the latest version of the Arctic Offshore Oil and Gas Guidelines (AOOGG) in April 2009. The AOOGG were prepared by the Protection of the Marine Environment Working Group (PAME) and are intended to define a set of recommended practices and outline strategic actions for consideration by those responsible for regulation of offshore oil and gas activities in the Arctic. As active participants in the Arctic Council, the United States and Canada have the potential to demonstrate model practices for offshore oil and gas development in their neighboring offshore areas of the Western Arctic Ocean, especially as each country reviews its procedures in light of the fatal April 2010 Deepwater Horizon blowout and explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. This paper outlines national laws and regulations existing at the time of the accident to suggest how both countries, as they revisit their procedures, can use the Arctic Council guidelines to more effectively regulate Environmental Monitoring in offshore oil and gas development in the Western Arctic.

Offshore Oil and Gas Development in the Arctic under International Law explores the international legal framework for hydrocarbon development in the marine Arctic. It presents an assessment of the careful balance between States’ sovereign rights to their resources, their obligations to uphold the rights of Arctic inhabitants and their duty to prevent injury to other States. It examines the rights of indigenous and other Arctic populations, the precautionary approach, the environmental impact assessment and the duty to monitor offshore hydrocarbon activities. It also analyses the application of the international law of responsibility in the event that the State fails to meet its primary obligations in the absence of a State’s wrongful conduct.

Global energy problems will remain a challenge in the coming decades. The impact of climate change and the melting of polar sea ice opening up access to offshore hydrocarbon resources in the Arctic Ocean, raises questions for both civil society and the scientific community over drilling opportunities in Arctic marine areas. Disparities in approach to the governance of oil and gas extraction in the Arctic arise from fundamental differences in histories, cultures, domestic constraints and substantive values and attitudes in the Arctic coastal states and sub-states. Differing political systems, legal traditions and societal beliefs with regard to energy security and economic development, environmental protection, legitimacy of decision making, and the ownership and respect of the rights of indigenous people, all affect how governance systems of oil and gas extraction are designed. Using a multidisciplinary approach and case studies from the USA, Norway, Russia, Canada, Greenland/Denmark and the EU, this book both examines the current governance of extraction and its effects and considers ways to enhance the efficiency of environmental management and public participation in this system.

The Arctic is particularly affected by climate change; over the past few decades, temperatures in this area have risen twice as fast as the mean global rate. The most prominent effect of global climate change in the region is the melting sea ice in the Arctic Ocean, which enables a multitude of ocean uses to be initiated and extended, such as shipping, fishing and oil and gas extraction. Unlike in the Antarctic, there is currently no single comprehensive legal regime for governance of the Arctic. Instead, the region is regulated by a patchwork of international treaties, above all the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), various regional and sub-regional agreements, national laws and soft-law agreements. This treatise provides an evaluation of the governance regime that regulates the use of the Arctic marine environment and its readiness to protect these fragile ecosystems in light of the consequences of climate change.