NSB, AEWC appeal Beaufort sale ruling

The North Slope Borough and the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission have appealed the U.S. District Court in Alaska’s Jan. 8 ruling upholding the validity of the U.S. Minerals Management Service’s April 2007 Beaufort Sea lease sale. NSB and AEWC had asked the court to rescind oil and gas leases issued in the sale on the grounds that MMS had not supplemented a 2003 environmental impact statement in preparation for the 2007 sale.

“I believe we were right when we asked the court to require MMS to update its environmental analysis using realistic numbers,” said North Slope Borough Mayor Edward Itta in a Feb. 27 statement regarding the new appeal. “Maybe it’s okay with the feds if they do a sloppy job of preparing for development, but it’s not okay with us. These leases are right on top of the whale migration, and if something goes wrong, it’s our culture and our people who suffer.” In its Jan. 8 ruling the court said MMS had adequately considered whether a supplement to the 2003 EIS was required, but NSB and AEWC said the 2003 EIS contains “flawed data and shoddy analysis.”

The NSB cited MMS estimates on likely level of industry activity at oil prices of $18-$30 per barrel, which the borough said is “less than one-third of current prices.”

“Undervaluing the price of oil in development scenarios leads to a gross underestimation of the impacts from that development,” the borough said in its statement.

MMS Alaska Region spokeswoman Robin Cacy said March 10 the agency had no comment on the action.

In its Jan. 8 ruling, the court said that in reviewing an administrative action under the National Environmental Policy Act it must determine whether the agency’s action was “arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with the law,” but “may not substitute its judgment for that of the agency.”

Based on that legal standard, the court concluded in its January decision that MMS had adequately considered whether a supplement to the 2003 EIS was required.

—Petroleum News