House Dems ask BLM to extend comment period on Arctic drilling project
E&E News
By Phil Taylor
March 13, 2014
Three senior House Democrats yesterday urged the Interior Department to allow more time for the public to comment on a proposed oil and gas project in northwest Alaska, saying it could have a major impact on how future drilling occurs in the region.
Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon, ranking member of the Natural Resources Committee, along with Reps. John Dingell of Michigan and Betty McCollum of Minnesota, said the Bureau of Land Management should provide 90 days for the public to review ConocoPhillips Co.'s drilling project in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, or NPR-A.
The project, which involves up to 40 wells and about a dozen miles of pipelines and roads, would be the first to produce oil from federal lands in the Indiana-sized reserve (Greenwire, Feb. 20).
"The significance of the proposed project, which would be ... a potential model for development throughout the region, warrants providing additional time to ensure that public input is maximized and the cumulative impacts of this proposed development are fully understood," the lawmakers wrote in a letter to BLM Principal Deputy Director Neil Kornze.
They noted that the project, known as Greater Mooses Tooth, is near both the Teshekpuk Lake and Colville River special areas set aside for their ecological and subsistence values. It overlaps with important habitat for migratory birds, aquatic species and the Teshekpuk Lake caribou herd, they said.
Erin Curtis, a spokeswoman for BLM in Alaska, said the agency had received the letter and would be meeting soon to discuss the request. The comment deadline is currently April 22.
The state of Alaska and its congressional delegation support development in NPR-A, which could potentially revive oil supplies to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.
Environmental groups are watching the project closely, seeing it as a bellwether for how BLM will balance oil development with the reserve's rivers, wetlands and wildlife habitat.
Ben Greuel, Alaska program director for the Conservation Lands Foundation, said last month that he's glad BLM is considering a roadless development option in its draft supplemental environmental impact statement. But he warned that it failed to include an alternative for "minimal impact development," such as through seasonal drilling.
The project is a sign of industry's quest to move farther west on Alaska's North Slope, onto relatively remote and uncharted federal lands.
The project is expected to create 400 jobs during construction and will produce about 30,000 barrels of oil daily, which will be sent to a ConocoPhillips processing facility before being loaded onto the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. Production is set to begin in late 2017.
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