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Governor keeps trying on ANWR Parnell appeals Obama administration’s latest rejection of state proposal to conduct exploratory operations on coastal plain By Wesley Loy For Petroleum News
Twice denied, Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell is taking a third crack at trying to persuade the Obama administration to allow oil and gas exploration on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
The Republican governor on Aug. 21 asked the national director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages ANWR, to overturn the Alaska regional director’s recent rejection of the state’s exploration plan.
The regional director, Geoffrey Haskett, held that the state’s application for a “special use permit” to acquire 3-D seismic data wasn’t allowable under federal law, specifically ANILCA, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980.
Parnell, in a press release, said that decision was all wrong and agency Director Daniel Ashe should reverse it.
“The regional director’s decision was both an inaccurate and restrictive interpretation of federal law that blocks Congress and the public from better understanding ANWR’s natural resource potential,” Parnell said.
“I am confident the director will take a hard look at that decision, in light of the state’s strong legal position and the enormous opportunity the state is offering to the nation in its exploration plan. Fundamentally, the question remains – ‘Why doesn’t the current administration want to know more about ANWR’s natural resource potential?’”
Years of frustration Oil and gas development on the highly prospective coastal plain of ANWR has long been one of Alaska’s fondest economic development dreams.
But exploration on the coastal plain currently isn’t allowed. And keeping the area closed is a top priority for environmentalists and some members of Congress.
Alaska’s elected officials have tried various strategies over the years to try to gain industry access to the coastal plain, and Parnell is following suit.
He began his open-ANWR campaign in May, proposing a seven-year program to not only acquire seismic data, but also drill exploratory wells on the coastal plain. Parnell pledged to seek $50 million from the Alaska Legislature to help pay for the work.
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell rejected the plan in a June 28 letter.
Undeterred, the governor submitted an abridged, seismic-only plan and permit application on July 9.
Haskett’s rejection of that plan came July 23.
Request for reconsideration In appealing the Haskett decision, the Parnell administration submitted a 15-page “request for reconsideration” signed by Joe Balash, acting commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources.
The document lays out legal and other arguments as to why federal officials should not reject the state’s exploration proposal, but rather approve it.
The Haskett decision relied on a 2001 Interior Department legal memorandum that concluded ANILCA authorization for exploratory activity expired in 1987.
But that memo “ignored the plain meaning” of the relevant ANILCA section that authorizes exploratory activity and includes no expiration date, the state argues.
The governor noted the memo was “prepared by former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt at the end of President Clinton’s administration.”
Parnell argues modern, 3-D seismic data could tell us a lot more about what oil and gas riches might exist beneath the coastal plain. Only 2-D seismic from the 1980s is presently available.
The governor further says the seismic surveys could be done with virtually no impact to wildlife or the tundra.
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