By OGJ editors
WASHINGTON, DC, Jan. 26 -- US Sec. of the Interior Gale Norton Jan. 22 finalized a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plan that allows for more leasing in the northwest portion of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A).
"With America's dependence on foreign oil growing each year, energy from the [NPR-A] can help in the long term to increase our domestic energy production and stabilize prices," Norton said. "This plan will help produce energy in an environmentally responsible manner with the best available technology, while protecting the important biological, subsistence, and cultural values found in this area."
BLM plans to hold a lease sale June 2 for selected tracts in the northwest corner of the petroleum reserve. The agency is accepting additional expressions of interest from industry through Feb. 9.
The agency will make 7.23 million acres of the 8.8 million northwest portion acres available for energy leasing and will defer 1.57 million acres from leasing for 10 years.
Norton slightly modified BLM's November 2003 proposal. In response to a resolution passed by BLM's Alaska Resource Advisory Council, she postponed leasing in the Colville River Special Area until the combined southern NPR-A plan and Colville River management plans are complete. The agency has not said when that will occur.
Protections, limitations
Norton also designated 102,000 acres in the Kasegaluk lagoon as a protected area.
"This area is important for migratory birds and marine mammals and features marine tidal flats that are rare on the North Slope. I concur with BLM's recommendation for this area and it will be protected," Norton said. BLM will include "no surface occupancy" restrictions that prohibit permanent structures in Kasegaluk and will issue other protective stipulations on those leases located in the lagoon.
DOI said its NPR-A development decision was made in consultation with Alaska officials and other stakeholders. But for most environmental groups, DOI's plan is not strong enough to protect the region's landscape or wildlife from drilling-related pollution.
"The Final Environmental Impact Statement announced [Jan. 22] fails to give real protection to one single acre, resource, or cultural value. Just like the energy bill now before Congress, this plan makes drilling and spilling the dominant activities on this spectacular wildlife and culturally rich region," said Eleanor Huffines, Alaska Regional Director of The Wilderness Society.
She said DOI's plan weakens current environmental safeguards, because it allows BLM to modify or waive all of them on a case-by-case basis for "economic" reasons. In addition, it changes existing prescriptive lease stipulations to vague "guidelines" set by the industry itself.
"These decisions were made in the absence of a monitoring program and were made without scientific basis," Huffines said.
"BLM will initially delay offering leases in some areas near Peard Bay and Kasegaluk Lagoon, but these deferrals offer no real or permanent protection for these important wildlife and subsistence resources. The decision apparently recognizes the sensitivity of these vital resources, yet still makes these areas available immediately for seismic work, as well as future oil and gas development," Huffines added
Road ahead
Norton's action completes the second of three land use plans being developed for NPR-A. The first plan, completed in 1998, covered 4.6 million acres of public land in the northeastern portion. A third planning effort covers the southern portion of the reserve, but no leasing guidelines have been determined yet.
BLM held an NPR-A lease sale in June 2002 that generated winning bids totaling $63.8 million on 60 tracts totaling 579,269 acres.
The US Geological Survey estimates that the entire 22.5 million acre NPR-A has 5.9-13.2 billion bbl of technically recoverable oil with a mean estimate of 9.3 billion bbl. By comparison, the agency says that the 1.5 million acre 1002 federal area in the adjacent Arctic National Wildlife Refuge likely holds 4.3-11.8 billion bbl of recoverable oil with a mean value of 7.7 billion bbl.
House and Senate Republican leaders wanted a pending energy bill before Congress to allow DOI to consider leasing in the 1002 area, but the provision proved to be too controversial. It is further unlikely ANWR leasing will be seriously considered this year, given that presidential and congressional elections are being held this fall, congressional sources say.
