MMS adopts final EIS for BP’s Northstar project

Petroleum News Alaska Staff

The Minerals Management said July 15 that the agency has adopted the environmental impact statement prepared by the Corps of Engineers for BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc.’s Northstar project. The announcement was made in the July 8 Federal Register.

MMS will use the EIS for its decisions on the proposed development and production plan for the project.

The MMS determined that the Northstar final EIS met the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act needed for its development plan decisions. Under the OCS Lands Act, MMS must make its decisions within 60 days of the Notice, however under NEPA MMS can take no action within 30 days of the Notice. MMS was a cooperating agency on the Corps of Engineers EIS; and under the NEPA must decide whether to adopt the EIS as its own.

MMS also determined that the state-approved Oil Discharge Prevention and Contingency Plan for Northstar was consistent with the requirements of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. OPA-90 requires that MMS review all contingency plans for all offshore oil and gas activities. Through an environmental assessment, MMS evaluated the DPP, the final EIS, and the draft and state-approved versions of the Oil Discharge Prevention and Contingency Plans.

The Northstar development project involves a joint federal-state managed reservoir in the Beaufort Sea offshore the Arctic coast of Alaska. The production facilities and pipeline would be located on state of Alaska submerged lands. Up to six development wells and one disposal well could be drilled from a surface location on state submerged lands into the federal outer continental shelf.

The MMS is the federal agency that manages and regulates the nation’s natural gas, oil and other mineral resources on the Outer Continental Shelf, and collects, and last year disbursed about $6 billion in revenues from offshore federal mineral leases and from onshore mineral leases on federal and Indian lands.