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Parnell’s persistence Governor pitches new ANWR exploration plan after initial proposal shot down Wesley Loy For Petroleum News
Interior Secretary Sally Jewell has rejected Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell’s proposal to conduct seismic surveys and exploratory drilling on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain.
The governor, however, is continuing to pressure the Obama administration to allow exploration.
On July 9, Parnell and his natural resources commissioner, Dan Sullivan, announced they had applied to the Interior Department for a “special use permit” to carry out an abridged version of the proposal offered in May.
Under the new plan, the state would conduct a 3-D seismic survey across the coastal plain from 2014 to 2017. No drilling would be involved.
The state would execute the plan on its own, with its contractors. The original proposal was for the state and federal governments to partner up, perhaps along with industry.
Parnell and Sullivan say a fresh and modern assessment is needed to determine what oil and gas resources are beneath the coastal plain.
The U.S. Geological Survey in 1998 estimated the area could hold between 4.3 billion and 11.8 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil.
Updated exploration could confirm that estimate, or perhaps ignite open-ANWR sentiment with findings of even higher oil and gas potential.
“We’re essentially saying to the federal government, ‘Let’s find out what’s there,’” Sullivan said at a press conference announcing the permit application.
Differing ANILCA interpretations For years, the general refrain has been that conducting oil and gas exploration in the far-north refuge would take an act of Congress.
But Parnell and Sullivan contend Congress already acted with ANILCA, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980, which has a section on coastal plain resource assessment.
Section 1002(e) of ANILCA says “any person ... may submit one or more plans for exploratory activity ... to the Secretary for approval.”
Upon receiving an exploration plan, the secretary “shall promptly publish notice of the application and the text of the plan in the Federal Register and newspapers of general circulation,” the section says.
The secretary “shall determine” within 120 days whether the plan can be approved. And before making a determination, the secretary “shall hold at least one public hearing in the State for purposes of receiving the comments and views of the public on the plan.”
Parnell and Sullivan are seeking to exercise all these ANILCA provisions with the state’s permit application for seismic surveys on the coastal plain.
But Jewell and the Interior Department already have made clear their view on ANWR oil and gas exploration.
Responding to Parnell’s original proposal for a seven-year seismic and drilling program, Jewell told the governor in a one-page letter dated June 28: “This Administration remains opposed to drilling in the Refuge and I support that position.”
Jewell went on to say that the Interior Department nevertheless reviewed the proposal, and concluded that any new exploratory activity, including seismic work, is prohibited by ANILCA and would require congressional authorization.
ANILCA’s “time-limited authorization” to conduct exploratory activity expired when the Interior Department submitted an oil and gas report to Congress in 1987, Jewell’s letter said.
Low-impact survey detailed Parnell and Sullivan note, however, that neither ANILCA nor federal regulations contain any expiration or sunset date.
The state’s new permit application, with the May proposal attached, runs 240 pages. Sullivan called it “a world-class document” that demonstrates how exploration could proceed without any real impact to wildlife or the delicate tundra, and how it could quantify the resources under the coastal plain and the potential economic benefits to the state and nation.
The permit application says “no explosives of any kind” will be used in the state’s seismic surveys.
“To conduct these surveys, special tracked vehicles will travel across the frozen tundra for short preapproved periods in the winter,” the application says. “Some of these vehicles lay receiver nodes and cables on top of the ground and others provide vibrations that send sound waves into the ground. These sound waves reflect off of geologic features in the subsurface and are recorded by the receiver nodes. When the survey has been completed for an area, the receivers are picked up and the crew leaves. Advanced computer programs then process the data, from which skilled geoscientists create and interpret complex maps of the underground structures and stratigraphy.”
Workers for the seismic program “will not exceed 150 per crew, and it is expected that two crews will need to work each season to complete the survey in three years,” the application says.
Parnell renewed his pledge to seek funding from the Alaska Legislature next session to help pay for the seismic program.
“If this plan and permit application is promptly reviewed and approved as required by ANILCA, I will request a minimum of $50 million to execute this plan,” he said.
Reactions follow usual line This is a time of tremendous anxiety for long-frustrated supporters of oil development in ANWR.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which manages ANWR, is finalizing a new management plan for the refuge. Some alternatives on the table would have the agency recommend wilderness designation for the coastal plain, which with congressional approval would effectively make permanent the current ban on oil and gas exploration.
Seismic work in ANWR would not be unprecedented. With approval from the Fish and Wildlife Service, a company conducted a 2-D seismic survey in 1984-85 on behalf of an industry consortium of more than 20 companies. The state did not directly participate in that survey.
Parnell’s latest proposal drew reactions typical of those heard over the many years of ANWR debate: applause from fellow Alaska elected officials, disdain from environmentalists, and silence from the oil companies.
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska: “The coastal plain holds valuable oil and natural gas resources, which is why Congress reserved it for oil production more than 30 years ago. Any effort to change the way the area is managed must only be considered with the best available information. Gov. Parnell’s offer to help pay for a full resource assessment of the coastal plain using 3-D seismic is generous, sensible and legally allowed under the 1980 lands act.”
U.S. Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska: “I will continue to push the Obama administration to allow seismic work and exploration in ANWR. This is a sound proposal to move forward with greatly improved science and technology.”
Congressman Don Young, R-Alaska: “Regardless of one’s stance on opening ANWR, Alaskans and Americans deserve to know what they own. A good, responsible land manager should share this curiosity, and I look forward to Secretary of Interior Jewell’s response to this reasonable request.”
State Rep. Ben Nageak, D-Barrow: “The federal government has continually worked against the interests of the State of Alaska and those of us in the area that would welcome responsible exploration and development. If they won’t do the work, then they need to follow the law and allow the State to move forward.”
Cindy Shogan, executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League: “What part of ‘no’ do they (Parnell and Sullivan) not understand? Development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s biologically sensitive Coastal Plain is a non-starter for the Obama administration.”
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