BLM hears out public on NPR-A’s fate
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Interest groups push very different visions for how to manage vast Alaska North Slope petroleum reserve; comment deadline June 1
Wesley Loy For Petroleum News
The Bureau of Land Management is scheduled to close out public comment June 1 on an unprecedented plan to guide management of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
Not surprisingly, visions differ sharply over how to handle the Maine-sized North Slope tract.
An Anchorage-based pro-development group favors making the entire reserve available to the oil and gas industry, while environmental organizations support a much more restrictive approach.
The BLM on March 29 announced the release of the “draft integrated activity plan and environmental impact statement” for the NPR-A, and set a June 1 deadline for submission of public comments.
Range of alternatives The five-volume document proposes a range of alternative management strategies for the petroleum reserve.
“This plan is the first plan that covers the entire NPR-A, including BLM-managed lands in the southwest area of the NPR-A which were not included in previous plans,” the BLM said March 29. “Decisions to be made as part of this plan include oil and gas leasing availability, surface protections, Wild and Scenic River recommendations and Special Area designations.”
Two of the four alternatives are drawing the most interest, alternatives B and D.
“Alternative B describes future management that emphasizes the protection of the surface resources of NPR-A with substantial increases in areas designated as Special Areas, designation of extensive areas that would be unavailable for leasing around Teshekpuk Lake, in coastal bays and lagoons, and in the southwestern part of the Reserve with important caribou habitat and important primitive recreation values, and recommendation for designation of twelve Wild and Scenic Rivers, while still offering opportunities for oil and gas leasing on nearly half of the Reserve,” the BLM said.
“Alternative D would allow BLM to offer all of the NPR-A for oil and gas leasing, while protecting surface values with a collection of protection measures.”
‘B is for birds’ The National Audubon Society favors alternative B, saying “B is for birds.”
In a recent “action alert,” the organization said alternative B “stands apart as the clear choice for conserving birds and habitat.”
Audubon is highly interested in Teshekpuk Lake in the northeast portion of NPR-A. The lake is one of the state’s largest inland water bodies and a summer mecca for migratory birds such as the Pacific black brant.
“For tens of thousands of geese, Teshekpuk Lake provides a critical safe haven when they are flightless during molt. Bird species that breed here migrate to places across the nation from coast to coast and to six continents. Some of the birds you see in your backyard may have been fledged in the Reserve!” Audubon’s action alert said.
The oil and gas industry likewise has shown interest in the Teshekpuk area, which is proximate to the Beaufort Sea coast and a highly productive geologic feature, the Barrow Arch.
The Alaska Wilderness League, based in Washington, D.C., also is pushing alternative B. The organization said alternative B is the most balanced approach, allowing for future oil and gas development in some areas “while also safeguarding the special places that are key habitat areas that are vital to healthy wildlife populations in America’s Arctic.”
In years past, Audubon and the Alaska Wilderness League have been among groups suing the Interior Department to try to block oil and gas exploration in NPR-A.
The Chukchi corridor President Barack Obama in May 2011 directed the Interior Department to conduct oil and gas lease sales annually in NPR-A.
Former President Warren G. Harding set aside the reserve in 1923 for its oil and gas potential. It takes in nearly 23 million acres.
To date, NPR-A has been a challenge for oil companies. Most of the exploration and discoveries have been in the northeast corner, closest to the existing infrastructure of the central North Slope oil fields.
The BLM says 29 wells have been drilled since 2000 in the petroleum reserve — 20 by ConocoPhillips, four by FEX, two by BP, two by Anadarko, and one by Total.
The ConocoPhillips-operated Alpine field is just east of the reserve. The company is planning an Alpine satellite field called CD-5, which will be the first development built in NPR-A.
In its own action alert, the Resource Development Council for Alaska urged people to encourage the BLM to adopt alternative D as its preferred alternative.
The council favors opening all of NPR-A’s subsurface to oil and gas leasing, with protections for surface values.
These protections, however, must not block development of infrastructure to transport oil and gas from the Chukchi Sea to the trans-Alaska pipeline, the council said.
The BLM is aiming to render a record of decision in December.
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