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Airing the three sides of ANWR Air, waste management professionals hear cases for and against exploration in coastal plain of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, gain overview of wildlife Steve Sutherlin Petroleum News Associate Editor
Because of oil and gas development on Alaska's North Slope, people who live there are living longer, said Richard Glenn, Arctic Slope Regional Corp. vice president.
Glenn, an Inupiat Eskimo from Barrow, spoke in favor of opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration and production during an ANWR presentation hosted by The Pacific Northwest International Section of the Air and Waste Management Association Sept. 24 at the Alyeska Prince Hotel in Girdwood, Alaska. The event was the opening session of a three-day environmental conference.
The group heard an anti-development view from Peter Van Tuyn, director of litigation for the Trustees for Alaska. Van Tuyn presented environmental concerns associated with oil and gas drilling in the refuge.
David Douglas, research wildlife biologist for the U.S. Geological Survey in Alaska, opened the session with an overview of ANWR wildlife. Conference organizers told Petroleum News the audience of 150 was comprised primarily of government employees and academia, resource industry representatives, and environmental specialists. A “motherland issue” North Slope residents support oil exploration in ANWR, Glenn said. Because of oil and gas development, people on the North Slope enjoy roads, schools and hospitals. “Betterment of people in large part has come from responsible onshore oil and gas development,” he said.
The Inupiat of the North Slope have a unique connection with the land, Glenn said.
“We depend on it for our sustenance, and yet we depend on it for our future,” he said. “We have no mining, farming or tourism.”
Glenn worked as a North Slope gas geologist before joining Arctic Slope Regional Corp. in 2001. He said initially he studied geology to supplement his Native knowledge of the land.
“This is a motherland issue in its literal sense,” he said. “My mom is Inupiat Eskimo.”
Inupiat traditionally have occupied all of the land north of the Brooks Range, Glenn said.
People have been born and died along every river. Point Hope has been occupied since 200 AD and is the oldest continuously occupied settlement in North America.
“None of the North Slope is pristine,” he said.
In the early 1900s the Native people were told to make villages, but the Natives still retain a fabric relationship to the land, Glenn said.
“It's our land, that fact predates edicts of presidents and of Congress,” he said.
Glenn said that at first, Native people were opposed to oil and gas development on the North Slope, but that has changed now that the industry has built a track record there.
“Our people have learned that oil and gas development can be done responsibly.”
Exploration has no lasting effect Glenn said he takes issue with people who say mere exploration is damaging to the land.
“Exploration is benign,” he said. “Explore everything and then discuss development.”
Some of the arguments against exploration are arguments against obsolete equipment and techniques, Glenn said, adding that seismic work using state-of-the-art equipment doesn't tear up the tundra like the old equipment did, but for about one year afterward; green belts are visible where the cushioned wheels stimulate plant growth.
“To say it has no effect is not accurate, but to say it has no lasting effect is accurate,” he said.
At first Texas and Pennsylvania techniques were imported to Alaska, but now the oil industry has grown up, Glenn said.
Glenn said he doesn't buy into arguments that the amount of oil production expected from ANWR is too small to be of importance to the nation.
“Myths and misrepresentations cloud the national debate on ANWR,” Glenn said. “For example, exploration opponents say ANWR will provide only a small percentage of the energy the country uses each year, but by that measure perhaps the nation should shut down all development, because each one provides such a tiny fraction of the nation's energy needs.”
Glenn said his people's traditional bowhead whale harvest is an apt analogy. The people rely on human muscle and a pulley system to bring the huge beast out of the ocean where it can be harvested and shared.
“My own strength contributes so little, I could walk away, but if everybody did it, a resource would go to waste,” he said.
1002 area unique The coastal plain of ANWR differs from the area near Prudhoe Bay, because it is not as wide, Van Tuyn said. In ANWR, the mountains of the Brooks Range are closer to the sea. It is a small area that encompasses a large variety of ecosystems, he said, adding that birds fly to all 50 states after spending part of the year in ANWR.
The coastal plain is the center of ANWR, Van Tuyn said. The Gwich'in people are opposed to oil and gas development in ANWR, and refer to the coastal plain as the “sacred place where life begins,” he said.
“It turns from an environmental issue to one of human rights as well,” he said.
No amount of oil is worth despoiling such a pristine wilderness, he said. The idea of a minimal footprint from oil development is a myth, Van Tuyn said.
“The lights from Prudhoe Bay are clearly visible from space,” he said, adding that at Prudhoe there is gravel fill on tens of thousands of acres, while the field releases 70,000 tons of nitrous oxide per year, and 11,000 tons of carbon monoxide.
“Oil and gas exploration and development industrializes the area.”
Oilfields, by their nature, grow, because it is economical to develop near existing development. Van Tuyn said.
“Alpine was used as a model of modern development, but just as other areas expanded, so did Alpine,” he said.
A call for winter exploration of ANWR, and the need for large amounts of water to build ice roads is also a concern, Van Tuyn said.
“The Arctic refuge exists in part to preserve water,” he said.
In addition, Van Tuyn said, a recent trend toward shorter winters will make it difficult for companies to complete work while using only the winter season.
The strongest argument against ANWR development, however, is that alternatives exist, Van Tuyn said.
“Better tires could save nearly two times the amount of oil from ANWR,” he said, adding that if Congress were to mandate higher corporate average fuel economy standards, it would save much more oil than is recoverable from the refuge.
Overview of terrestrial wildlife Conducting a terrestrial wildlife study focused on the 1002 area of ANWR is interesting because the land area is pinched between the Brooks Range and the Arctic Ocean, a converging area with converging habitats that bring many wildlife types together, said David Douglas of the USGS. 1002 has topographic diversity, braiding rivers, plant and bird diversity in riparian corridors, featuring some of the tallest vegetation on the North Slope.
Highly productive during the short Arctic summer season, it becomes a very hostile climate in winter. Snowmelt occurs very quickly, but it doesn't occur at a consistent time from year to year. Snowmelt patterns each season greatly influence the pattern of animal migration and breeding success. Musk oxen year-round Caribou get most of the ANWR animal press, but the Porcupine herd of ANWR visits only to calve in the spring, and to fatten up for a fall trek into the mountains — and in most years, a winter migration into Canada.
Musk oxen, however, are year round residents, Douglas said. They practice restricted movement in winter because of need to conserve energy.
Musk oxen had been hunted out of the area, but were re-introduced to the coastal plain in the 1960s, Douglas said. The numbers peaked and have been declining since the 1980s, but there is evidence, he said, of increased predation. There has been little study to determine the effects of oil development on musk oxen, however, it is known that the animals are April calving.
Lesser snow geese Lesser snow geese nest in Canada, but come to the ANWR coastal plain to fatten up over a two-week to four-week period in autumn, staying long enough to build energy reserves before migration, Douglas said. Over the years most of the geese have been found in the eastern half of the 1002 area.
The number of visiting geese fluctuates broadly from year to year, less than 25,000 some years, and more than 100,000 in other years, according to aerial surveys taken from 1982 to 1993.
More than 300,000 of the birds visited ANWR in 1985. Easy-care Polar bear The Polar bear dens on land and on sea ice along the North Slope, Douglas said.
Most of the land dens observed are in the 1002 area, he said, however human activity can be managed so as not to disturb the Polar bear. The chronology of denning is known.
“Polar bears are resilient to disturbance while in the den,” Douglas said.
Porcupine caribou herd The population of the Porcupine caribou herd is not as volatile as that of the Central Arctic and other North Slope herds, Douglas said, adding that other Alaska herds grow and shrink at twice the rate of the Porcupine herd.
The Porcupine herd favors variable locations for calving, depending on forage availability, he said. If spring is early, more animals calve in the 1002 area, and in those years, the calf survival rate is very high.
Because predator distribution is greater in the foothills, Douglas said, a “Shifting calving ground” model applies — the farther the caribou are displaced from the 1002 area, the lower the rate of calf survival. Douglas said the use of the northwest area of 1002 “does not play into calving considerations,” because calving in the 1002 area has historically been elsewhere.
The Central herd, which calves near Prudhoe Bay, seems unaffected by oil development, Douglas said, but it appears to have shifted its calving activity to points south of the oil development. Douglas said relocation of Porcupine herd calving would likely result in greater disruption, because there is less good habitat on the narrow bench of ANWR.
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