Interior plans NPR-A, OCS sales

North Slope Natives, environmental groups have concerns, Burton says: mitigation measures for NPR-A sale will be stringent

Kristen Nelson

Petroleum News

Efficient use of energy, diversity of sources and increasing production of hydrocarbons are how Acting Assistant Secretary of the Interior Johnnie Burton describes three major things that need to be done as part of a national energy policy.

Diversity of sources includes development of renewable resources — particularly geothermal and wind.

Burton told Petroleum News Aug. 21 in Anchorage that the Bureau of Land Management has done a lot with geothermal development and, more recently, with wind. A wind farm being developed in Idaho will generate about 200 megawatts of electricity when fully developed, she said, enough to take care of about 50,000 homes, and Minerals Management Service, responsible for offshore renewable energy, has received applications for offshore wind.

Alaska has a role to play in the increasing production of hydrocarbons, she said.

In her current role Burton, who is MMS director, also has oversight of BLM and the Office of Surface Mining. BLM and MMS are the big federal onshore and offshore land managers in Alaska, both with active oil and gas leasing programs.

“Alaska has been a difficult province to work in because of the weather and the lack of infrastructure,” Burton said, but she noted that over the last couple of years MMS has been “contacted a lot by industry and they are really interested in coming in, developing OCS Alaska.”

MMS has just announced its upcoming five-year plan for the outer continental shelf (see sidebar) and there will be Chukchi offerings, as well as the traditional Beaufort Sea lease sales and possibly sales in a portion of the north Aleutian basin.

“I look at the next couple of years as being really key years for development of OCS and when you look onshore Alaska, the NPR-A is very, very important.” A sale in the eastern National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska will be held in September and Burton said that although there has been a lot of litigation over that sale “and people think we’re going to back off: we’re not.” The work BLM did has been supported in the courts, she said, noting that the upcoming sale, with some 80 different stipulations, will be the most stringent sale BLM has held.

There are concerns, she said, but “we know there’s some oil there and industry is interested.”

A lot of interest expected

“There is no doubt that there will be a lot of interest from some of the major players. And we’re hoping some of the not-so majors, but we know for sure that some of the majors have great interest in all those areas so we hope it pans out,” Burton said.

The sales have also sparked environmental concerns, and concerns from North Slope Natives.

North Slope Borough Mayor Edward Itta came to Washington, D.C., to meet with Burton right after he was elected. “And he expressed a real concern about the Chukchi and wanted to make sure we did an EIS.” Burton said she assured the mayor that there would be an environmental impact statement, and said the Anchorage MMS office has been extremely busy with the EIS for the Chukchi and a programmatic EIS for the full five-year multiple Alaska OCS sales.

Burton said she also met with Itta in Anchorage earlier in August, and said his concern is “not just the environmental impact, although that’s the big thing.”

“It’s the impact on his people’s lifestyle, on his people’s culture, so the concerns are much broader than just having a rig in the Beaufort Sea. It has to do with the people that are coming up to the North Slope, the lifestyle that is developing on the North Slope, all the societal impacts that it has.”

Burton said Itta “really does not like offshore drilling” but realizes it is probably coming whether he likes it or not “so his request is for us to please work with him, keep him informed” and consult with him. “There could be some give and take on how we design things and we will try to the utmost of our ability to do just that,” she said.

Burton said Interior has also told the companies to be sure to keep the borough and villages informed, and she said that Shell has told her that they have met with the mayor and his staff and the villages.

The North Slope Natives are “never going to be very happy with what activity will happen there” because of concerns that it will lead to the destruction of their lifestyle. “But I think as long as we keep them well informed ahead of time of what is planned, we take into account their particular concerns and try to mitigate those as much as possible, I think we can work together.”

Allred nominated as assistant secretary

Allred served in Kempthorne’s cabinet as director of the Department of Environmental Quality when the secretary was governor of Idaho. He was previously director of the Idaho State Department of Water Resources and a senior vice president and group president for Morrison-Knudson Corp.

Allred has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Idaho.

Burton, who is MMS director, has been acting assistant secretary for about a year, and will continue to serve in that capacity until Allred has been confirmed.