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Injunction denied
District Court rejects ban on Willow work pending 9th Circuit appeal
Alan Bailey for Petroleum News
On Dec. 1 federal District Court Judge Sharon Gleason rejected a request for a temporary injunction that would have banned ConocoPhillips from conducting field work for its Willow oilfield development in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, pending the resolution of an appeal against the development in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
On Nov. 9 Judge Gleason issued an order rejecting two appeals by environmental organizations against the Bureau of Land Management's approval of the Willow development. The environmental organizations immediately appealed the decision to the 9th Circuit and asked the District Court to, meantime, issue an injunction against the field work. The organizations argued that the field work would cause irreparable damage to the natural environment in the NPR-A and would also impede subsistence activities in the region of the planned oil field.
ConocoPhillips is planning to conduct on-site field development work during the coming winter off-road construction season.
Opening briefs in the 9th Circuit appeal are due by Jan. 4, with answering briefs due by Feb. 5.
Appeal unlikely to succeed In rejecting the request for the injunction Gleason argued that the plaintiffs in the case were unlikely to "suffer irreparable harm in the absence of injunctive relief.- Gleason also commented that the plaintiffs had not persuasively demonstrated potential injury to subsistence activities -- there is, in fact, evidence that some of the planned activities, such as road construction and the construction of boat ramps, would actually help subsistence hunters, she wrote.
Gleason commented that Willow activities planned for the coming winter construction season would not impact the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area, an area of significant environmental sensitivity, and would only impact a tiny portion of the Colville River Special Area.
Gleason also wrote that an injunction is inappropriate, given that the plaintiffs are unlikely to succeed in their 9th Circuit appeal. Essentially, the plaintiffs have not presented any new arguments beyond those rejected by the District Court and, thus, have not shown that there is a likelihood of success on the merits of their claims, she wrote.
Gleason also said that the court gives considerable weight to comments by the Alaska congressional delegation and the Alaska Legislature, regarding the negative impacts on the Alaska economy of issuing an injunction.
Proceeding with field development is also consistent with the congressional directive in the National Petroleum Reserves Production Act, the federal act relating to oil and gas leasing and development in the NPR-A, Gleason wrote.
ConocoPhillips initiating winter work According to information filed in conjunction with the court case, ConocoPhillips plans to install pipeline support members and some pipelines this winter, together with the construction of some gravel roads, including the completion of a gravel road to the site of the Willow Operations Center and the construction of a road from the operations center site to the site of the Willow Central Facilities.
ConocoPhillips Anchorage-based spokesperson Rebecca Boys has told Petroleum News that non-surface disturbing construction activities have already started -- ice road route staking and prepacking of ice roads is underway. The company plans to start ice road construction in early December, depending on the weather. Surface disturbing activities such as gravel mining and placement, and pipeline construction, will begin as early as Dec. 21, also depending on the weather, Boys said. Construction materials for the 2024 winter season are now being delivered to the Willow staging area in the Kuparuk River unit, she said.
ConocoPhillips has about 800 staff and contractors currently working on the project. The company is well advanced in detailed engineering and has a thorough execution plan, Boys said.
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