|
Delegation protests wilderness review Alaska’s senators, representative, urge Salazar to take wilderness out of ANWR plan review; ask for seismic to be done in 1002 area Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
A laska’s congressional delegation is protesting inclusion of a wilderness review in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s revision of the comprehensive conservation plan for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
In a May 4 letter to Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, Alaska’s U.S. senators, Republican Lisa Murkowski and Democrat Mark Begich, and the state’s sole House member, Republican Don Young, said while they understand “the current 22-year old CCP for ANWR needs to be updated, we strongly object to any further wilderness reviews for ANWR since all recognize any new wilderness designation can only be made by Congress.”
Fish and Wildlife said April 6 that is was beginning an update of the comprehensive conservation plan, including wilderness and wild and scenic river reviews. The wilderness review drew immediate objections from Gov. Sean Parnell and from Begich (see story in April 11 issue).
Public meetings have already been held in Alaska and in Washington, D.C. A draft of the plan will be released for public review and comment in February 2011; a final plan and record of decision are expected in April 2012.
Fish and Wildlife included inventorying, studying and possibly proposing new areas suitable for wilderness, with any wilderness recommendations to be forwarded to Salazar for consideration. New wilderness would require congressional approval.
Leads nation The delegation told Salazar that “Alaska already leads the nation in the number of wilderness designations and in the total amount of protected land.” Nearly half of ANWR is already designated wilderness under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, they said, and it was only after considerable debate that the 1002 area, the ANWR coastal plain, was left open for potential oil and gas development.
“The ANWR coastal plain likely contains the continent’s largest onshore deposit of hydrocarbons and, given advancements in technology, it is possible to access those resources without any significant impact to the wildlife frequenting the coastal plain,” the delegation said.
Since the future of the 1002 area “can only be resolved by Congress,” the delegation said it “strongly” urged the secretary to take the wilderness review off the table as part of the plan revision.
“We believe this will save the Service considerable time and money and allow Refuge personnel to focus on critical issues such as managing increased visitor use and changing habitat considerations.”
Since seismic surveys “are expressly authorized in ANILCA Section 1002(b), so long as they are conducted in such a way as to avoid significant adverse effects, we request you comprehensively authorize and or conduct such studies and make the resultant information available to Congress prior to any consideration of additional conservation measures,” the delegation told Salazar.
| 