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Providing coverage of Alaska and northern Canada's oil and gas industry
March 2014

Vol. 19, No. 11 Week of March 16, 2014

All state land open for tundra travel

The Alaska Department of Natural Resources has now opened all state land on the coastal region of the North Slope and in the Brooks Range foothills for off-road tundra travel. All areas have now reached the required snow depths and soil temperatures for access by vehicles not certified for use on the tundra, DNR announced March 7. However, people who wish to use vehicles for off-road travel must obtain a state permit to do so, DNR said.

To ensure that the delicate Arctic tundra is not damaged by vehicles not designed for tundra use, DNR requires a 6-inch snow depth in coastal areas of state North Slope land, and a 9-inch snow depth in the foothills areas before opening the land for off-road access. The ground underneath the snow must be frozen to a temperature of 23 F at a depth of 1 foot in all areas.

Companies conducting winter exploration or development operations off the North Slope road system have to construct ice roads to sites such as ice-pads used for drilling. The ice roads enable the transportation of drilling rigs and other equipment and materials to the sites. Although companies normally use tundra-certified vehicles prior to the tundra travel opening, to pre-pack the roads routes with snow and to spray the routes with water for snow stabilization, completion of road construction using regular vehicles does require winter tundra travel to be open — the length of the winter tundra travel season is a critical factor in determining how much off-road drilling and other work can be carried out.

This winter DNR conditionally opened the eastern and western coastal areas of the North Slope at the end of December, but with a couple of locations within these areas remaining closed. The coastal areas fully opened on Jan. 16, with the lower foothills conditionally opening at the same time. The March 7 announcement indicated that both the lower foothills and the upper foothills are now fully open. Winter off-road tundra travel typically closes at some time in May.

—Alan Bailey






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