According to Reuters, the State of Alaska held a lease sale Wednesday for exploratory oil and gas rights on the North Slope, and it seems to be a small bright spot in energy news. Kevin Banks, the acting director of the Alaska Division of Oil and Gas told Reuters that the sale was more active than people expected, with a total of 8.5 million in high bids for North Slope leases. The most active bidding came for acreage near existing fields, such as Badami, Kuparuk, Alpine, Point Thompson and Prudhoe Bay. In a second lease sale, there was a single bid from a private investor for acreage in the Brooks Range foothills, which are expected to hold more potential for natural gas than for oil. Energy companies already hold many leases in the foothills, and they seem to be waiting for news of Alaska's gas pipeline before beginning operations. Read more here. On the subject of a gas pipeline, Banks was quoted saying, "We're closer now than ever." Alaska Beat hopes he means that more than Canada's Environment Minister did when he said the same thing about the Mackenzie gas pipeline.