ConocoPhillips asking for target practice

In an unexpected byproduct of increased development, ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc. is asking for permission to use two North Slope gravel mines as temporary shooting ranges.

The company recently applied for a land use permit to use Mine Site C and Mine Site E for summer target practice. “(ConocoPhillips) will need the flexibility to move around both mine sites due to change in activity levels at the pit,” Environmental Coordinator Samuel Widmer explained in an application to the Division of Mining, Land and Water.

The permit would run from December 2014 to December 2019, although the company only intends to use the gravel mines for target practice during the summer, and, even then, only until it finishes training 52 security personnel, according to the application.

The target practices “usually” occur on the weekends, according to Widmer. He said that ConocoPhillips lays a “bullet tarp” over the practice area and recovers all shells and casings. “When target practice is underway, the area where the practice is happen will be closed,” he wrote. “This is announced over the radios to all the operators on the slope.”

The Division of Mining, Land and Water is taking comments through Nov. 28.

- Eric Lidji