More than 215,000 public comments were received by the Bureau of Land Management in opposition to a new draft plan for oil and gas leasing that strips protections for the Teshekpuk Lake area of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, in Alaska's western Arctic.
Earlier this year the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) decided to amend the 1998 plan for the northeast corner of the Reserve. The BLM's preferred alternative under the new plan reduces protections for the biologically sensitive Teshekpuk Lake Special Area by 75 percent and releases an additional 387,000 acres of land for oil and gas leasing.
The deadline for public comments on the northeast plan was August 23, 2004. The BLM is set to release a final plan as early as November.
Lakes in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (Photo courtesy BLM)
“Under our existing plan for the northeast portion of the Petroleum Reserve, we estimate 60,000 barrels of oil production per day," said BLM Alaska State Director Henri Bisson. "At $40 a barrel, this would save approximately $2.27 million dollars per day and $830 million per year in imported oil."
However, under our preferred alternative, at an estimated 200,000 barrels of production, there would be a dollar savings of about $7 million per day or $2 billion per year,” said Bisson, pointing to the demands for oil made by American consumers.
Under the agency’s preferred alternative (Alternative B), 96 percent of the planning area would be available to oil and gas leasing. This includes making about 75 percent of the high oil and gas potential area available, while the existing plan makes 56 percent of the high potential area available.
Other government agencies have raised concerns with the BLM plan. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that the preferred alternative is likely to cause significant adverse impacts.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found that, "In the face of uncertainty regarding potential impacts on these unique resources, avoiding surface disturbance in the most biologically sensitive areas, as presented in the No Action Alternative, is our preferred management approach."
Rodney King, a migratory bird management specialist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, wrote in a symposium paper on the importance of the Arctic Coastal Plain and the Teshekpuk Lake area in particular, "The annual survey of molting geese in the Teshekpuk Lake area has documented a 15-year mean of 17,570 black brant, 13,001 Canada geese, 7,024 greater white-fronted geese, and 232 lesser snow geese. Total average goose use for the 199 lake areas surveyed is 37,827 annually. This data emphasizes the importance of the area not only locally, but continentally."
Snow geese in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (Photo courtesy EPA)
Also included in the comments are statements of opposition from prominent waterfowl management groups Pacific Flyway Council and Ducks Unlimited. Both groups site concerns over potential impacts to the Teshekpuk Lake area, and recommend the adoption of the No Action Alternative.
Typical of the adverse comments is this from Audubon Alaska. "Although BLM claims that it has conducted 'scientific studies on the biological resources' that justify opening more of the Teshekpuk Lake area to oil development, Audubon's review of the scientific literature and consultations with experts do not support this conclusion."
"Indeed," the conservation group says, "the weight of scientific evidence points toward significant impacts on fish and wildlife if more of this sensitive area is opened, especially when the effects of industrial-scale oil development are combined with those of climate warming in the Arctic."
“The National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska is rich in wildlife resources and important to the subsistence traditions of the Alaska Natives of the region,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Alaska Regional Director Rowan Gould.
Gould said his agency would ensure that "any future oil and gas leasing or development is conducted in a manner that will protect those wildlife resources and respect the rights of those subsistence user."
“We received invaluable assistance from North Slope residents and other public entities. As a result of our numerous discussions and meetings, we are proposing to keep 213,000 acres of sensitive goose molting and caribou habitat northeast of Teshekpuk Lake off-limits to oil and gas leasing,” Bisson said.
But more than 200 ornithologists and other wildlife professionals - including 43 Alaskans - submitted a letter to the BLM criticizing the weakened protections for the Teshekpuk Lake area, saying, "The 213,000 acre no-lease zone, however, is too small to encompass all the essential habitat used by molting geese, and.the functionally protected area will be even smaller."
