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Coalition says oil leases endanger geese Interior Secretary Norton considering expansion of oil and gas leasing in northeast corner of NPR-A, north of Teshekpuk Lake The Associated Press
A migratory bird coalition is urging federal officials to drop plans to expand oil and gas leasing north of Teshekpuk Lake in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
The land is crucial for black brant, a goose whose population is in steep decline, according to a letter from the Pacific Flyway Council to Interior Secretary Gale Norton.
Drilling, roads and other industry activity could disturb the geese at a critical time when they’re trying to feed and grow new feathers, the letter says. Already, regulators are imposing drastic cutbacks on sport and subsistence hunting in Alaska, down the West Coast and into Mexico to protect the brant, according to the letter.
“This is a very critical piece of habitat and we’re very concerned,” said Terry Crawforth, director of the Nevada Department of Wildlife and chairman of the Pacific Flyway Council, an 11-state organization. BLM proposes to expand leasing U.S. Bureau of Land Management officials in Alaska have sent a proposal to Norton calling for expanded oil and gas leasing in the northeast corner of the petroleum reserve. Officials say land with high potential for millions of barrels of crude oil was placed needlessly off limits to drillers during the Clinton administration in 1998.
The final decision on whether to move forward with the leasing now rests with Norton, who has given no indication when she might decide.
Environmental and birding groups, as well as some Alaska Natives, have voiced objections to the plan to lease 389,000 acres, including seven tracts totaling 372,000 acres squarely in the middle of goose molting country north of Teshekpuk Lake.
The Pacific Flyway Council is one of four such bodies across the country that bring state wildlife professionals together to monitor migrating birds and make recommendations to managers, particularly the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Alaska has a representative on the council, with 10 other Western states.
According to Crawforth’s letter to Norton, the population of Pacific black brant has sharply declined since 1998 and in January of this year stood at a record low 101,391 birds. Not clear why brant population dropping It’s not clear why the black brant population is dropping, but Crawforth said the council believes oil and gas exploration — and ensuing development should drillers make big enough finds — could exacerbate the goose decline.
Some oil companies, including ConocoPhillips Alaska, have been drilling in the northeast petroleum reserve in recent years, but no oil find has been developed and the land remains void of roads and pipelines. The reserve lies west of Alaska’s major oil fields. BLM officials contend they’ve crafted a leasing plan that will protect the geese and also give oil drillers access to highly prospective acreage.
“We’ve been concerned about the brant all along,” said Jody Weil, BLM spokeswoman in Anchorage.
Among restrictions, exploration would be allowed only in winter, when the lake-pocked tundra is frozen and the geese have migrated south for the winter.
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