Whoa. It looks like Shell's decision to suspend its quest for Arctic oil is having far-reaching consequences for the country's drilling strategy.

Today, the Department of the Interior announced that it would cancel lease sales in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas in 2016 and 2017.

"In light of Shell’s announcement, the amount of acreage already under lease and current market conditions, it does not make sense to prepare for lease sales in the Arctic in the next year and a half,” Secretary of the Interior (and West Seattleite) Sally Jewell said in a statement.

Other oil and gas companies have long looked to Shell's lead to gauge their own interest in drilling under such difficult conditions. But in today's announcement, the Department of the Interior cited lack of industry interest as a reason to call off the land grab. In the same announcement, government officials rejected Shell and Statoil's requests to suspend their existing leases, which could have allowed them more time to drill in the future.

Back in March, Governor Jay Inslee wrote to Jewell and asked her to abandon future lease sales. "I cannot in good faith support this new oil and gas development given the slow and insufficient progress that countries have made to date in limiting carbon pollution," he wrote. "In the absence of that progress, the nation should not invest in new long-term infrastructure for Arctic production that will increase and further entrench our use of fossil fuels."

The government's decision doesn't bode well for the state of Alaska, which is 90 percent reliant on oil and gas revenue. Alaskan politicians were banking on Shell's success to fill up the 800-mile Trans-Alaska pipeline, which has been running at a trickle. Without enough crude oil, the amount that does move through the pipeline risks freezing or causing other structural problems.

But environmental groups are hailing Interior's move as a longer-term triumph in the Arctic. "Greenpeace collectively waves its kayak paddles in thanks to the President for ensuring this Arctic protection," Greenpeace spokesperson Travis Nichols said in a statement. "This is a historic decision to keep Arctic oil in the ground that will be felt for years to come."