BLM extends NPR-A comment period

The Bureau of Land Management has extended the public comment period for its draft supplemental integrated activity plan/environmental impact statement for the Northeast National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. Comments originally closed Oct. 23; the new date is Nov. 6. BLM said the extension was in response to a request from the North Slope Borough for additional time to prepare comments.

“We requested additional time so stakeholders and the public can make informed comments concerning complex issues raised in the draft impact statement,” NSB Mayor Edward Itta said in a statement. “As a formal cooperator, we appreciate the BLM’s decision to extend the comment period. It shows the definite recognition by BLM of the importance of our many fall subsistence activities,” the mayor said.

BLM said it began developing the supplemental in December 2006 in response to Sept. 23, 2006, U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska decision that the 2005 Northeast NPR-A amended activity plan/EIS “failed to adequately address cumulative impacts.” The borough signed a memorandum of understanding with BLM in early 2007, giving it the formal status of a cooperating agency for the Northeast NPR-A planning effort.