State legislators decry ‘travesty wells’

Bureau of Land Management pressed to plug and clean up old federal wells on Alaska’s North Slope; resolution has deep support

Wesley Loy

For Petroleum News

By the time the blistering 75-minute hearing ended, legislators had redubbed Alaska’s legacy wells the “travesty wells.”

And they concluded it might be time for the state to sue the federal government to force a cleanup of the wells, drilled decades ago in and around the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.

The stated purpose of the March 25 hearing of the Senate Resources Committee was to consider a legacy well resolution the House already passed unanimously.

The real purpose, however, seemed to be giving angry witnesses yet another shot at blasting the feds for failing to deal with the old wells.

The critics say the government, specifically the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, seems OK with wells that haven’t been properly plugged and abandoned, that abound with safety hazards, and are even leaking natural gas in a couple of cases.

“This is a travesty for Alaska,” said Sen. Anna Fairclough, R-Eagle River. She suggested the committee bring Alaska’s attorney general into the discussion. The rest of the committee readily agreed.

Foerster’s fury

“I’ve been beating my head against this brick wall since I came to the commission eight years ago,” Foerster began her testimony.

She presented the committee a slide show of legacy wells in what appeared to be appalling condition, with pipes jutting out of the tundra, flooded in possibly contaminated water, rusty barrels strewn about.

Foerster and state Rep. Charisse Millett, an Anchorage Republican and lead sponsor of House Joint Resolution 6, told the committee the BLM had moved far too slowly in cleaning up the wells.

And they questioned whether the BLM was using excuses, such as cost or the need for historic preservation reviews of older well sites, for not getting on with the job.

“The BLM says they don’t even have sufficient funds to go out and clean up these hundreds of rusting barrels,” said Forester, flashing a photo a drum-cluttered well site, “but they have a big enough budget to rent an expensive helicopter every year and send staff out on camping trips to take pictures.”

The legacy well legacy

The Navy, the U.S. Geological Survey and their contractors drilled some 136 exploratory wells and boreholes between 1943 and 1982. The drilling was to assess the NPR-A’s petroleum potential, and to test arctic drilling concepts.

To date, the NPR-A has not produced commercial quantities of oil.

Foerster, Millett and others say the vast majority of federal well sites were never properly reclaimed.

Soldotna Republican Sen. Peter Micciche, a ConocoPhillips employee, said the legacy wells represent a “double standard.”

Private companies would never be allowed to get away with leaving well sites in such sorry condition, Foerster said.

The Interior Department, which houses the BLM, has barred the oil industry from exploring some of the most prospective parts of the petroleum reserve.

“As you look at these pictures, consider the hypocrisy of the federal government wanting to protect Alaska from the very sort of mess that they caused and refuse to clean up,” Foerster said.

Sen. Fred Dyson, R-Eagle River, commended Millett for sponsoring the resolution.

“I’m really proud of you for reaching down in the mud and pulling this skunk up and holding it up for everybody to see,” he said.

The resolution passed out of the Senate Resources Committee and was expected to go to the Senate floor. Passage is assured, as at least a dozen of the 20 senators, including members from both parties, have signed on as co-sponsors.

The resolution urges the Interior Department to plug the legacy wells and reclaim the sites “as soon as possible,” and to comply with state regulations.

The resolution also urges Interior to “open new areas of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska for environmentally responsible oil and gas development.”

BLM’s upcoming plans

He read an opening statement, then took a respectful tone in addressing the committee’s questions.

Cribley, the BLM Alaska director, laid out what his agency is doing on the legacy well problem.

Since 2002, he said, the federal government has spent almost $86 million on plugging legacy wells and cleaning up the surface.

“We have plugged 18 wells and remediated contaminated soils where necessary with that funding,” he said.

Recently, the agency drafted an inventory of legacy wells, and provided it to Foerster’s agency for review and comments.

Once those comments come back, the BLM plans to finalize the report and use it to complete a “strategic plan” toward “closure” of all legacy wells in the NPR-A.

He talked of the remote location of the wells, how ice roads are needed to haul in equipment, and how the season for plugging wells is cold and dark.

Cribley also addressed the implications of the BLM consulting with the state’s historic preservation office on well sites more than 50 years old.

“I want to assure you that this is part of our normal environmental review process, and is not expected to result in any delays in accomplishing cleanup work,” he said. “In addition, historical significance in and of itself does not preclude plugging or cleanup and is considered well in advance of on-the-ground activities.”

Cribley also offered some comments on a widely circulated photo of a legacy well known as Simpson No. 26.

“What you see in this picture is a well that was drilled in a natural oil seep,” he said. “That well was plugged by the BLM in 2006. The oil you see is from the natural seep and not leaks. Surface solid waste cleanup still must occur, but is logistically difficult.”

The BLM plans to focus on surface remediation projects during the 2013-14 field seasons, Cribley said.

He added that the agency “remains committed to seek funding to properly address those sites that pose a threat to public health and safety and the environment.”