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If one phrase was heard over and over at Monday night's public hearing concerning the Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas-leasing program, it was "we are not ready."

The dozen or so people who showed up to testify at the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management meeting voiced skepticism about the wisdom in allowing further oil and gas leases in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas. Concerns were also voiced about the way input from the public has been sought and applied thus far in the creation of the draft environmental impact statement.

"This lease sale caught a lot of people by surprise," said Ukallaysaaq Tom Okleasik, planning director with the Northwest Arctic Borough, noting that existing leases were already so controversial. The current draft proposal covers lease sales for the next five years and includes one sale in each sea, though bureau representatives said areas known to be sensitive or important for subsistence uses are being examined for exclusion.

Okleasik showed a video of a man-made island in the Beaufort Sea as it was being overrun by ice flows. The ice toppled retaining walls and the sounds of twisting metal could be heard. Okleasik asked how engineers were going to safely prepare for such a force.

"We live in a pretty unpredictable environment," he said.

Others echoed his comments, saying the experiences in the Gulf Coast oil spill should serve as a stark reminder of what can happen. Earl Natchiq Kingik said he traveled to the Gulf Coast oil spill when it occurred and was horrified.

"I went to a cooperative agency meeting... and all these different agencies were all pointing the fingers at each other," Kingik said. "That didn't look too good to me."

Kingik said he went out on a boat and witnessed the horrible stench and burning fumes of the oil spill. He went flew above the spill in a plane and saw the booms that were trying to contain the oil.

"They were not working," he said. "Oil was going over them. I don't want that to happen in the Arctic. Is Alaska ready? Alaska's not ready."

More infrastructure needed

Kingik and others pointed to the lack of resources in the Arctic, from icebreakers to the personnel and infrastructure needed to support clean-up crews, should disaster strike.

Qaiyaan Su'esu'e of Barrow said the climate of the area where the leases are proposed is already stressed enough.

"There is no proven method to clean up a spill. There is no coast guard up in Barrow, we have no road system. It baffles me to think that Shell can come to our communities and promise that they can clean up 95 percent. The Gulf couldn't come anywhere near that," Su'esu'e said.

Others pointed out that often, weather conditions prohibit anyone from getting anywhere in the Northwest Alaska region.

"This country has amazing extremes in it," said Lincoln Saito. "When you see a blizzard blowing at 60 to 80 mph for 20 hours straight, it's amazing. Quick response ... you can't even get a plane here. You can't even get a helicopter."

Okleasik questioned the fact that Shell's proposed cap and containment system was only an engineered drawing.

"Everything shown is kind of a cartoon," he said. "It's not been physically built. It's never been tested in the ice conditions."

Bureau Director Tommy Beaudreau said the capping system would have to be on hand in advance of any permits for drilling being issued.

"You have to have a capping system online and you have to demonstrate that it works," Beaudreau said. "It is a concern to me that this system hasn't been built yet. I told them every time that I meet with them that they aren't going to drill until they do so. It is our responsibility to hold industry's feet to the fire and ensure that they comply with our rules and any operation they go forward with is conducted safely to respond to the types of risks there."

Beaudreau said anyone drilling must prove that they can cap their well within 15 days, a detail that met with some discontent from some in the audience. He said he estimates the wells in the Arctic could discharge 20,000 barrels of oil a day. At 42 gallons in a barrel, that's 12.6 million gallons if the well were untapped for the full window, or 300,000 barrels. The Exxon Valdez oil spill, by comparison, was estimated to be between 257,000 to 750,000 barrels.

A call for more local science, input

Concerns voiced at the meeting went beyond the call for more time to prepare for potential drilling operations and encompassed the actual comment process itself, as well as community involvement.

Several people at the meeting voiced frustration at the three-volume document being discussed, which was over 1,000 pages long.

"I pay attention to these things, and I can't keep up with what's in these documents," said Darcie Warden, who works for the Alaska Wilderness League. "I feel like it's the agency's job to prepare the communities in a fair way."

Some called for a day-long briefing for people, allowing them to better understand what is being proposed, as well as information about what comments had been made at meetings elsewhere in the region. Others questioned why more people didn't participate in the meeting, but several attendees said the constant barrage of meetings wears down the residents of the area.

Kingik said more people used to attend these sorts of public comment and information-gathering meetings, but found them prohibitively confusing.

"People quit going to the meetings because they couldn't understand what people were talking about," he said.

Okleasik said the Northwest Arctic Borough was dissatisfied with the level of communication between the borough and the bureau regarding the lease sales, and called for the creation of a regional citizens advisory committee to oversee future activity by oil industry in the Arctic. He also noted that traditional knowledge needs to be considered on the same level as science.

In addition, several people at the meeting questioned why comments made earlier in the process hadn't yet been incorporated into the draft. For example, testimony had been taken regarding sensitive and traditional hunting areas, but they remained within the scope of the two proposed leases.

Bureau officials said the draft plan was just a draft, and comments would be considered and incorporated. The final decision, however, rests in the hands of the Secretary of the Interior.

The bureau will accept written comments on the draft proposal through Jan 9, 2012. More information, as well as directions on how to submit comments, can be found at http://ocs5yeareis.anl.gov. In addition, a meeting will be held in Barrow on Friday at 7 p.m. at the North Slope Borough Assembly chambers.