|
NSB agrees to rezoning for Nikaitchuq Borough investigated potential impacts on environment and on subsistence hunting; arctic ciscoe main concern Alan Bailey Petroleum News Staff Writer
At its June assembly meeting the North Slope Borough approved the rezoning of the area around the Nikaitchuq unit, Gordon Brower special assistant to the Land Management Division of the North Slope Borough Planning Department, told Petroleum News. The rezoning presents a major milestone in the development of Nikaitchuq by Kerr-McGee and its partner Armstrong Alaska. Nikaitchuq lies in the shallow waters of the Beaufort Sea, offshore the Kuparuk River and Milne Point production units on Alaska’s North Slope.
Kerr-McGee has said that the Nikaitchuq No. 1 well tested at rates of more than 960 barrels per day of 38 degree API oil from the Sag River formation. The company has also said that it has tested the Schrader Bluff reservoir at Nikaitchuq No. 4 at rates up to 1,200 bpd, with the oil testing at 16 to 17 degrees API.
Kerr-McGee and Armstrong plan to build a production pad at Oliktok Point and up to three offshore gravel islands inside the barrier islands in the vicinity of Spy Island, in water depths of eight feet or less. They would drill up to “50 wells at each offshore location and about 20 wells at the onshore location for producing oil and gas.” Conservation district But the project area south of Spy Island and north of Oliktok Point lies within a region that the North Slope Borough had zoned as a conservation district — an area intended for nature conservation. As a result Kerr-McGee submitted an application to the borough to have the area rezoned for resource development. We received the application in March and the borough’s planning commission heard the application in May, Brower said.
“By resolution, the Planning Commission, after a public hearing forwarded it on to the North Slope Borough Assembly for final approval,” he said.
Assembly approval followed a further public hearing that included testimony both for and against the rezoning. And with the rezoning completed, the permitting process for the project can now move ahead. Fairly low environmental impact Brower said that the decision to agree to the rezoning partly emanated from the fact that the sea in the project area is fairly sheltered. People did cite some environmental issues but we determined that there wouldn’t be a large-scale impact “primarily because of our coastal management program atlas which shows this area to be relatively free of ice ridging,” Brower said. Also some barrier islands shelter the project area and would take the brunt of a storm surge, he said.
The prime environmental concern turned out to be a potential impact on the arctic ciscoe that migrate through the shallow nearshore water from the Mackenzie River to the Colville River. Grounded ice forming around the oil structures might block the migration of these fish.
“The remedy was that the grounded ice for the project would be breached at several locations to accelerate thaw,” Brower said. Subsistence impacts North Slope Borough residents are also concerned about the impact of oil and gas development on subsistence hunting.
“We do know the impact associated with development is mostly displacement (of subsistence hunting),” Brower said.
The Nikaitchuq project involves a conflict avoidance agreement with the Alaska Eskimo Whaling Commission, he said. The intent of this agreement is to ensure that the development doesn’t interrupt bowhead whale migration, a critical factor in the Native way of life.
Bowhead whale migration is protected by the North Slope Borough coastal management program and by municipal code, Brower said.
“They may have stop-work periods from the peak hunting until the quota’s met by the village, so that whales will not be deflected off their normal migration path,” he said.
Brower also pointed out that although industry has claimed that hunting can continue around the oil and gas developments, past experience has shown that disruption to hunting can occur. For example, security concerns can result in restricted access around oil installations.
“There have been problems with subsistence hunters being disarmed,” Brower said.
And a good neighbor policy for recognizing and mitigating the displacement of subsistence use areas will apply to the Nikaitchuq project, as it has in the Alpine project, Brower said. The good neighbor policy recognizes areas that are used for subsistence harvesting or transportation.
“It creates a fund where impacts can be mitigated and if subsistence is not taking place in this area it provides a means of going elsewhere,” Brower said. Cumulative effects Brower also emphasized the importance of looking at the overall cumulative effects of oil and gas development and not just considering individual projects.
“I think the state has neglected this far too much — they have not done anything to make the industry recognize the cumulative effects that are going on,” Brower said.
The borough expects to carry out studies into these cumulative effects in connection with the Nikaitchuq project — studying, for example, the impact of noise from construction sites and field operations.
“It calls for some acoustic monitoring in close relationship with our wildlife department in the North Slope Borough,” Brower said. “We’ve been the leader in studying the bowhead whales.” New technology The proposed use of new technology, including containment modules for the wellheads and a “pipe-in-pipe” design for pipelines, played a significant role in the borough’s rezoning decision.
“It hasn’t been done before in the Arctic, having wellheads completely sealed inside a tank and the subsea pipeline having a full containment system,” Brower said.
This type of design puts to rest some fears about what would happen if a blowout occurs, especially since oil spill response tests in broken ice for Northstar did not work, he said.
“The long standing opposition to offshore development by the North Slope Borough still stands but we make use of best available technology to make a best informed decision,” Brower said. “… If you want to come up here this is how you do it.”
| 