It’s off limits

Fish & Wildlife ANWR plan bans oil development in coastal plain of refuge

Alan Bailey

Petroleum News

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has published a final environmental impact statement for the agency’s conservation plan for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. In that EIS the agency has selected a plan alternative that recommends that Congress should designate the entire refuge as wilderness, (see map page 23) including the coastal plain area, sometimes known as the 1002 area.

This wilderness designation would place the entire refuge off limits for oil and gas exploration and development. Land in the immediate vicinity of the coastal village of Kaktovik would be excluded from the wilderness designation but would still require Congressional approval for oil and gas exploration.

Highly prospective

“Designating vast areas in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as wilderness reflects the significance this landscape holds for America and its wildlife,” said Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell on Jan. 25 when announcing the publication of the final ANWR EIS. “Just like Yosemite or the Grand Canyon, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is one of our nation’s crown jewels and we have an obligation to preserve this spectacular place for generations to come.”

In response to the EIS publication, President Obama said that he felt proud that Interior had put forward a comprehensive plan that would protect the refuge and designate new areas, including the coastal plain, for preservation.

“And I’m going to be calling on Congress to make sure that they take it one step forward by designating as a wilderness, so that we can make sure this amazing wonder is preserved for future generations,” the president said.

Walker angry

“I’m very angry that this is happening,” Walker said. “They are taking our economy away from us piece by piece.”

Walker said that he had explained to Jewell that Alaska is dependent on resource development and has an oil pipeline that is now three-quarters empty. And in response to Jewell’s comparison between ANWR and Yosemite or the Grand Canyon, Walker commented on the amount of commercial tourism-related activity in the two Lower 48 parks.

“I think it’s quite a bit more than goes on in ANWR,” Walker said. “I’d love to be treated like the Grand Canyon or Yosemite as far as the kind of commerce that goes on there responsibly.”

This ANWR decision is like banning tourism in Hawaii to keep Hawaii pristine, he said.

Plan of action

Kara Moriarty, president and CEO of the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, an oil industry trade association, expressed her anger at the Fish and Wildlife decision.

“This is offensive,” Moriarty said. “It’s offensive to Alaskans when we have the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, already 92 percent of it is off limits to development. … I think this decision sends the signal that the federal government is not allowing Alaska to be open for business.”

Congressional delegation

“It is a one, two, three kick to the gut of Alaska’s economy,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski. “We have said as a delegation that we will not stand it, we will not tolerate it, we will do everything we can to push back against an administration that has taken a look at Alaska and decided it’s a ‘nice little snow globe up there and we’re going to keep it that way.’ That’s not how you treat a state. Show us some respect.”

Rep. Don Young claimed that the Fish and Wildlife action violates ANILCA, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, the act that established ANWR. ANILCA has a clause requiring an act of Congress before ANILCA’s scope can be extended.

“This brazen assault on Alaska only strengthens our resolve to push back,” Young said. “This latest decision, in clear violation of ANILCA’s ‘no more’ clauses, completely undermines the law and the many promises made to the Alaskan people. This is unacceptable and I am already beginning work in the House to ensure this assault is stopped dead in its tracks.”

“This attack on Alaska families and the middle class is deeply troubling,” said Sen. Dan Sullivan. “I pledge to do everything in my power to protect the economic growth and prosperity of our state, and defend the promises made to Alaskans under ANILCA.”

ASRC comments

“The people of the Arctic Slope region, specifically Kaktovik, have thrived in this area for over 10,000 years, and therefore fall outside of the definition of characteristics of wilderness,” ASRC said in a Jan. 26 statement. “The people of the Arctic Slope region, especially the residents of Kaktovik, are conservation minded, and yet rely on responsible oil and gas development to sustain our communities. This proposed designation as announced would effectively slam the door shut on the substantial economic opportunities associated with future development of the potential resources in the coastal plain.”

Environmentalist support

“We applaud and thank President Obama for adopting a conservation plan that for the first time proposes to designate a large portion of the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as wilderness to protect it from exploitation and development. We call on Congress to follow the president’s lead,” said Trip Van Noppen, president of Earthjustice. “Known as ‘The Sacred Place Where Life Begins’ to Alaska Native communities and teeming with rare wildlife, this is a place of incalculable beauty and value, to be protected like Yellowstone and Yosemite, not turned into another polluted oil patch.”

For its part, the Fish and Wildlife Service said in the ANWR EIS that its decision was based on a thorough analysis of the environmental, social and economic considerations presented in its revised ANWR plan and in the EIS. The agency said that the EIS it did not address oil and gas development or seismic surveying because ANILCA prohibits oil and gas operations in ANWR without approval by Congress.

ANWR and the 1002 area of the coastal plain

The story of the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge dates back to 1960 when the Arctic National Wildlife Range was established in the extreme northeast of Alaska. In 1980, under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act, an act that established a series of national parks in Alaska, the Wildlife Range was renamed the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge. Most of ANWR lies within a mountainous region of the eastern Brooks Range. However, recognizing the oil and gas potential of the northern strip of the refuge, on the eastern extension of the North Slope coastal plain, section 1002 of ANILCA, while putting much of ANWR off limits to development, deferred a decision on future development on the coastal plain section of the refuge. That coastal strip became known as the 1002 area.

Under the terms of ANILCA the 1002 area can only be opened for oil and gas exploration if the U.S. Congress passes an act authorizing the opening. To date Congress has not passed the required act, despite strenuous efforts at various times to gain house, senate and presidential support for the enabling legislation.

However, in 1985 and 1986 Chevron and BP were able to drill a single exploration well, the KIC well, in the 1002 area in Native land southeast of the village of Kaktovik. The results from that well have remained commercially confidential.

Much promise

Other than resources in Native land near Kaktovik, any oil or gas in the 1002 area belongs to the federal government. However, were oil production to start from the area, the state would be entitled to tax the production and would be paid a share of the federal royalties on the oil. And oil passing from ANWR into the trans-Alaska oil pipeline for transportation to market would improve the overall economics of the Alaska oil industry, hence indirectly further increasing state revenues.

—Alan Bailey