From Elizabeth Bluemink in Anchorage --

An Alaska legislator today fired a letter off to the Department of Interior complaining that state legislators had not been invited to speak at a public forum on offshore drilling hosted in Anchorage on Thursday by the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement.

The near future of drilling off Alaska's coast is expected to be a big topic at the forum, and a number of Alaska politicans including Anchorage mayor Dan Sullivan, Sen. Lisa Murkowski and North Slope Borough Mayor Edward Itta are scheduled to speak during panel discussions. The forum runs from 8 a.m. to noon at the Dena'ina Civic & Convention Center.

Other panelists during the forum include environmentalists and oil-industry representatives.

"I respectfully request an explanation of why no state legislative seats were provided," said Rep. Craig Johnson, R-Anchorage, in a letter to Pat Pourchot, the Department of Interior's special assistant for Alaska affairs.

"In addition, I hereby formally request that Secretary (Ken) Salazar and the Obama Administration provide additional opportunities for public and legislative comment, and additional public hearings, on the issues to be covered at the forums tomorrow prior to any final determination by the Administration regarding suspensions of drilling and exploration on Alaska’s Outer Continental Shelf.

The head of the bureau, Michael Bromwich, is holding public forums around the country to help him decide whether to recommend changes to the scope or duration of the offshore exploration drilling moratorium announced this year after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

The moratorium included Shell Oil's plan to drill for oil on its leases in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas this summer.