DOI official expects ANWR leasing draft EIS by fourth quarter

June 25, 2018
The US Department of the Interior expects to publish an initial environmental impact statement (EIS) on oil and gas leasing on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s coastal plain during this year’s fourth quarter as scheduled, Assistant Sec. for Land and Mineral Management Joe Balash told reporters on June 15.

The US Department of the Interior expects to publish an initial environmental impact statement (EIS) on oil and gas leasing on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s coastal plain during this year’s fourth quarter as scheduled, Assistant Sec. for Land and Mineral Management Joe Balash told reporters on June 15. He spoke just before a final public hearing in Washington on the matter where opponents demanded more time to gather comments, which now must be submitted by June 19.

“We have to pay attention to every comment we get,” Balash said. “I won’t be surprised if we get a half-million comments. Congress has given us a job to do, and specific deadlines. By mid-July, we’ll know whether we’ll be able to fit what we’ve learned into that schedule.”

An interagency team with representatives from the US Bureau of Land Management and US Fish & Wildlife Service—the two DOI agencies that directly oversee the proposed leasing area—along with officials and staff from Alaska’s comparable state agencies and other experts will begin to develop alternatives in July and environmental consequences evaluations through the summer, Balash said.

Oil and gas leasing on ANWR’s coastal plain was authorized and two sales scheduled as a provision in the federal tax reform bill that Congress passed, and President Donald Trump signed in late 2017. The process formally began when BLM announced in April that it would begin taking comments about ANWR Coastal Plain leasing (OGJ Online, Apr. 20, 2018).

Evaluations during this initial phase will consider broad leasing issues, Balash said. Subsequent examinations will consider pre-lease and post-lease geophysical exploration; drilling permit applications for exploration and development; operations and production; inspection and enforce; and reclamation as the 1970 National Environmental Policy Act requires.

“For a lot of reasons, these NEPA processes have been spread out historically, partly as a result of micromanagement in DC instead of involving agencies’ state and local offices,” said Balash, who formerly was commissioner of Alaska’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The initial EIS will be focused on leasing, while the Integrated Activity Plan, which comes later, will address subsequent stages of activity that require their own EISs under NEPA, he said.

Public scoping is working

Balash said the public scoping process has been very successful so far, with a full range of public input from Alaskans. “When we had our very first meeting in Arctic Village, the environmental officer for the Native tribe that lives there pointed out the significance of lichens for the caribou herd. That’s important information we didn’t have before,” he said.

Lessons learned from whaling conflict avoidance agreements could be applied to caribou migration, Balash said. “Alaska has learned a lot over the decades, particularly about protecting caribou. It’s also worth noting that FWS and [US Geological Survey] scientists already have done a lot of research on the local flora and fauna,” he said.

Oil and gas exploration, production, and transportation technology that has been developed in the more than 40 years of activity on Alaska’s North Slope could keep new projects’ actual footprints small, he added. “We have a lot of building blocks to work with already.”

Witnesses at the hearing that followed included both supporters and opponents of ANWR coastal plain oil and gas leasing, including speakers from the two main Alaska Native groups in the area. “I have heard strong local support on this issue,” said Kaktovic Mayor John Hobson Jr., who is an Inupiat. “People live on this land, not just herds of caribou and elk. Our message has always been about balance. We have done it for decades.”

Tanya Garnett, a Gwich’in from Arctic Village, said, “I’m here to represent my people at home, those who came before us, and those who will come after. There are only a few of us here today, but we represent thousands who still practice their traditional ways. Why is there a rush to push an EIS, which normally takes years to develop, through in a single year?”

Not time for short cuts

Other witnesses agreed. “This is certainly not the time for BLM to take short cuts on the leasing process. We strongly urge it to take no action on leasing,” said Wilderness Society Pres. Jamie Williams. “BLM also needs to take a closer look at the coastal plain’s wilderness character,” suggested Alaska Wilderness League Executive Director Adam Kolton. “It needs to examine notions ideas such as minimum big requirements, wildlife impacts, and international treaty requirements.”

The state’s current DNR Commissioner Andy Mack said, “Alaska believes that 40 years’ experience with oil and gas activity on the tundra shows this can be done, but the communities there need to be involved. Alaska’s government sees the balance between conservation and development as the state’s guiding principle. Our request is that when DOI develops its leasing plans, it treats traditional and scientific knowledge equally.”

Alaska State Senate Resources Committee Chair Cathy Giessel (R-Anchorage) urged DOI to consider positive impacts ANS oil and gas development has had on people who live there, noting that their life expectancies grew more quickly than elsewhere in the US from 1980 to 2014. “Oil production began in 1979, and brought health benefits not only for local residents, but for all of Alaska. That’s why Alaskan public opinions strongly support oil and gas development,” she said.

Richard Ranger, an American Petroleum Institute senior policy advisor who spent 13 years in Alaska, said advances in environmental management practices, couple with oversight from federal, state, and local agencies, have combined to minimize and, in many cases, avoid impacts to the tundra and wildlife.

“Wells that were once spaced about 120 ft apart now are drilled as closely as 10 ft. With grind and inject technology, drilling wastes are safely reinjected underground into isolated geologic formations, eliminating the need for surface storage areas or reserve pits that were customary during the early years of the Prudhoe Bay field’s development,” he said.

Wants thorough, honest process

“Ninety-nine percent of the North Slope Borough’s revenue comes from oil and gas activity in the region,” said Cara Moriarty, president of the Alaska Oil & Gas Association in Anchorage. DOI said in a 1987 report that ANWR’s 1002 Area was the nation’s best onshore crude oil opportunity, Moriarty said. “The industry makes modifications for wildlife. It’s important that BLM has a thorough and honest process.”

Richard Glenn, executive vice-president for lands and natural resources at Arctic Slope Regional Corp., Alaska’s largest private employer, said “Only by taxing the presence of the industry in our region have we been able to build schools and hospitals. The industry’s activity has not harmed wildlife populations. The animals truly have the right of way, and the people have benefited. The survival of our people and their villages depends on continued oil and gas development.”

About 35 opponents rallied outside before the hearing and were in attendance once it began. Others opposed to ANWR coastal plain leasing participated in a teleconference that morning, including Sally Jewell, who was US Interior Secretary during President Barack Obama’s second term.

“It’s absolutely essential that human rights be taken into account as well as environmental consequences,” Jewell said. “It has been the government’s tradition to look at resources for extraction potential alone. This needs to change. We have seen that there are human and environmental consequences, something the current administration apparently disregards.”

Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].