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November 2008

Vol. 13, No. 48 Week of November 30, 2008

Not so fast

Edward Itta, mayor of the North Slope Borough, told the Resource Development Council’s annual conference on Nov. 19 that he was always glad to share discussions about the challenges of offshore development with Shell and with the U.S. Minerals Management Service.

“While we are often on opposite sides of offshore development issues … I sincerely believe that we all have authentic desires to work together in pursuit of the elusive middle ground that benefits everyone who has an interest in the Arctic Ocean,” Itta said.

Itta said that the North Slope Borough has been involved in the appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit against approval of Shell’s Beaufort Sea exploration plan and in the appeal against the Environmental Protection Agency air quality permit for Shell’s Beaufort Sea drilling vessel.

These lawsuits reflect the borough’s fundamental concerns about Arctic offshore oil and gas exploration and development, he said.

“These concerns and the failure of federal agencies to address them have landed us in court a couple of times in recent years,” Itta said. “… Very reluctantly I felt I had no more options other than to get to court to hear our concerns get addressed. It’s unfortunate because I do not believe in litigation as the answer to development of resources on the North Slope.”

Supports industry

And, although North Slope residents have “more than a little heartburn” over offshore leasing and development, the borough is supportive of the oil and gas industry, Itta said.

“The North Slope Borough has worked with the oil industry for … very close to 40 years now,” Itta said. “We’ve worked with them to make sure that onshore projects are successful in extracting oil while they protect the landscape and the wildlife that we depend on so much. … We’ve issued permits on hundreds and hundreds of projects. And we’ve almost never ended up in court over the maze of development that has occurred across the North Slope in pursuit of oil and gas.”

And, as a project that the borough supports, Itta particularly cited BP’s Liberty oil field development, where the company plans to directionally drill into the offshore field from an existing Endicott drilling island.

“We’re excited about that,” Itta said.

But at the core of the borough’s concerns about offshore development lies the subsistence culture of the Inupiat and the importance of the bowhead whale migration along the Arctic coast.

“Our traditional Inupiat way of life cannot survive without this resource,” Itta said. “Clearly the risks associated with development offshore are much greater than of developing on land and they pose a significant threat to marine life that is out there.”

Questions asked

Itta said that he was sure there had been “a little bit of grumbling, over lunch maybe at the Petroleum Club,” because of the borough lawsuits challenging Shell’s planned exploration.

“Rightfully so, and I understand,” Itta said. “Questions have probably come up. Questions like ‘why are those people so ungrateful, when oil has paid for so much of their services, and their jobs and the quality of life in the North Slope communities?’”

Itta proceeded to tell a story which, he said, illustrated the fact that the people of the North Slope support responsible oil and gas development.

Once upon a time a resource company wanted to come to Alaska to make a big investment in a big project, he said. The company hired a popular local leader to promote its project. The company spared no expense, explained its project to the people and clearly wanted to be a good corporate citizen. The people appreciated the company’s efforts and understood the benefits that could come from the project.

But the people became increasingly concerned about the risks and disruption that might ensue from the project, and about the speed with which the company was moving. The people decided that they couldn’t support the project and gave a vote of no confidence to the local leader who had promoted the project.

“I suppose some of you have heard this story before. I’m obviously talking about recent events on the North Slope with Shell,” Itta said. “Actually no. … I’m talking about the story of Evergreen Resources and Sen. Scott Ogan … in a dispute over a coalbed methane development project proposal in the Mat-Su Valley a few years ago.”

Folks in Wasilla were worried about what would happen to their neighborhoods, their water supplies and their hunting and recreational areas, Itta said. And although the coalbed methane project likely had merit, the process for implementing the project was flawed and ultimately sank the project, he said.

No different

“We on the North Slope are no different from the people in the Mat-Su Borough who said no to Evergreen Resources,” Itta said. “We found ourselves in the same situation with Shell’s massive exploration plan for the Beaufort Sea, known as the Sivulliq project, which coincidentally happens to be right on the path of the bowhead migration.”

Itta said that the North Slope Borough has asked for three things:

• Adequate baseline environmental data to ensure that environmental change can be measured over time;

• Reasonable mitigation and monitoring measures that can respond to any substantial risk; and

• A program of response to impacts, especially cumulative impacts, given the likelihood of multiple companies operating in the offshore.

“It takes time to create a level of trust between parties with different cultural perspectives but I believe, with that investment (in pre-project analysis), agencies and companies can send a message that they’re not just in it for the oil, but they also understand the quality of life concerns that we have,” Itta said. “… If you can struggle with us in trying to answer some of the tough questions that keep us up late at night, then we’ve got something to talk about. … Whatever happens with oil and gas — don’t ever forget we, the Inupiat, were there before oil, and whatever happens we must ensure that we are there after oil.”

—Alan Bailey






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