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BLM polishes legacy well cleanup plan Sixteen old federal well sites on Alaska’s North Slope identified as top priorities; Senate passes legislation to provide funding Wesley Loy For Petroleum News
The Bureau of Land Management has finalized its “strategic plan” to plug and clean up so-called legacy wells on Alaska’s North Slope.
The well sites are located predominantly in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, which the BLM manages.
The agency rolled out a draft of the cleanup plan in May.
The final plan, released Sept. 23, identifies 16 priority wells for remediation. The BLM, in a press release, said work could begin “as early as next field season” to remove solid waste from three well sites on the Simpson Peninsula, southeast of the village of Barrow.
The plan does not estimate a total cost for legacy well cleanup.
But the BLM said full remediation of the sites will require “tremendous resources over the coming years.”
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, is pushing legislation that could provide $50 million to reclaim and close abandoned oil and gas wells nationally.
An ‘inherited’ problem 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 oil potential, and to test arctic drilling concepts, in what originally was known as Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 4.
In recent months, Alaska elected officials and drilling regulators have blistered the BLM for neglecting the old wells. They have complained the sites are junk-strewn, many wells haven’t been properly plugged and abandoned, and some are even leaking natural gas.
The BLM notes it “inherited” responsibility for the wells in 1982, after administration of NPR-A was transferred to the agency. The federal government, since 2002, has spent nearly $86 million to plug 18 legacy wells and conduct surface cleanup, the BLM says.
The cleanup plan categorizes the 136 legacy wells. Half, or 68 wells, require no further action “because they have been remediated or pose no threat to the public or the environment,” the agency says.
The USGS continues to use another 18 wells as part of climate change studies.
The final 50 wells require BLM action, including the 16 priority wells.
High-risk wells described “We appreciate the feedback we received from the state of Alaska, the North Slope Borough and other stakeholders,” said Bud Cribley, the BLM’s Alaska director. “While this final plan lays out an aggressive strategy to address 16 of our highest priority wells, we continue to work with our partners to determine the next steps on the remaining wells requiring remediation.”
One outspoken BLM critic, state Rep. Charisse Millett, R-Anchorage, wasn’t impressed with the plan.
“It’s good to see the report is finally out and the agency is targeting the worst sites but overall, the plan is more inaction than action,” Millett said. “BLM only plans to clean up 50 sites. What about the remaining 68 wells? Alaskans would really appreciate it if the federal government held itself to the same standards it sets for private petroleum companies.”
In the near-term, the BLM will concentrate on the Barrow and Simpson Peninsula areas, the cleanup plan says.
The first high-priority wells to be addressed include Simpson Core Test No. 26, Simpson Core Test No. 30, Simpson Core Test No. 30A and the Iko Bay Test No. 1 well at Barrow.
“The three Simpson core test wells all have high surface risks, with solid waste left behind by the U.S. Navy, including half barrels and other drums submerged in oil seeps,” the plan says. “A detailed surface investigation and preliminary survey of the site occurred in June 2013. The data collected will be used for surface cleanup as soon as summer 2014.”
The Iko Bay well “has high surface and subsurface risk ratings, as the BLM has verified a small gas leak,” the plan says.
“The well lies near a well-traveled winter trail and the building that houses the well has been known to provide shelter for those traveling in inclement weather,” the plan says.
A small drill rig will be used to plug the well, and all casing strings will be cut off a few feet below ground level, the BLM says. The plugging and surface cleanup will begin “during the winter season after a contract is awarded.”
The plan spotlights a few other problem wells, including the Gubik No. 2 (seeping gas), the Skull Cliff Core Test (200 drums and other surface waste), the Topagoruk No. 1 (waste including battery cores, piping and remains of a burned-out drill rig), and the Tulageak No. 1 (only 350 feet from the fast-eroding Beaufort Sea coastline).
Murkowski likewise has been highly critical of BLM over the legacy wells, which she calls “an environmental crime committed against Alaska by the federal government.”
The Senate has passed legislation related to the BLM-operated Federal Helium Reserve that provides $50 million to remediate, reclaim and close abandoned oil and gas wells on current or former national petroleum reserve land, Murkowski said in a Sept. 19 press release.
“The abandoned wells in the NPR-A have been ignored for far too long by federal land managers, who claim they lack the money to adequately address the issue,” Murkowski said. “My hope is that this will remove that excuse and resolve this issue once and for all.”
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