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 Alaska's Arctic :: Current Situation
ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
The Budget Resolution 101
On April 28, 2005 Congress passed a concurrent budget resolution (House vote: 214-211; Senate vote: 52-47). Passage of the budget resolution means the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is still at risk for oil drilling and exploration. Therefore, we thought it might be useful to lay out the budget process that will likely take place over the next few months.
What's Going To Happen With The Budget Now?
Stage 1 (Now)
The concurrent budget resolution that passed both chambers of Congress essentially sends written instructions to the House and Senate telling the committees what they need to achieve to meet the budget goals. Committees can either cut program funding or find additional funds to make up deficits. The process of meeting those goals is called the budget reconciliation process. In the case of the Refuge, the budget resolution instructs the Senate Energy Committee to find $2.4 billion in revenues to help fund the budget. Thus, it opens the way for the committee to recommend those funds be acquired through the sale of leases in the Refuge (which the President said would garner $2.4 billion in revenues). The actual verbiage "open the coastal plain to drilling" does not appear in the current budget resolution.
Stage 2 (To take place during May)
The authorizing committees will report back to the budget committees with the changes needed to meet the budget goals. These changes will be assembled into a budget reconciliation bill. This is the place where we could expect to see the actual wording that authorizes opening the Refuge to drilling.
In the past changes for the budget reconciliation bill needed to be reported out of committee by June 6th.
Stage 3 (June through September)
The committees return their proposed changes to the Budget Committee. The appropriations can either be voted on separately, or lumped into a single omnibus appropriations bill (this happens when lawmakers cannot finish before the new fiscal year-October 1st). It is likely the Budget Committee will package these changes into one omnibus bill for consideration by both chambers.
Any bill must be signed by the president to become law.
How Will We Impact This Process?
The last stage of review before the final vote will allow us yet another opportunity to strike Arctic Refuge drilling from the Budget before it is passed into law.
Can't This Be Filibustered?
No. Unlike most pieces of legislation the Budget cannot be filibustered. It will be decided by a simple majority vote.
Over the next few weeks the Northern Center will continue to provide updates on the budget process and Congressional contacts that will be most effective. Thank you all for all of your work to this point. The fight is not over!!
For more information on the Budget process or its current standing, please contact Arctic Coordinator Kelly Hill Scanlon at (907) 452-5021, or Kelly@northern.org.
Statement of the Alaska Coalition on Passage of Budget Resolution Conference Report
April 29, 2005
The passage of this budget resolution means that the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is still at risk. A budget conference report need not say the words "Arctic National Wildlife Refuge" to pave the way for Arctic Refuge drilling. At the same time, we are encouraged by the strong bipartisan opposition to this budget resolution. In particular, Rep. Nancy Johnson (R, CT) deserves the gratitude of all conservation-minded Americans for her leadership in making the vote in the US House of Representatives a strong bipartisan statement against drilling.
The budget process is not over, and we will continue to fight every step of the way, using every procedural and legislative option at our disposal, to ensure that Congress ultimately listens to the majority of Americans and rejects every effort to include Arctic Refuge drilling in the reconciliation bill.
Although the resolution that passed today does not mention the Refuge by name, it is clearly intended to provide the chairmen of the House Resources and Senate Energy Committees everything they need to push drilling through by circumventing the normal 60-vote requirement for controversial legislation in the Senate. Both committees' chairmen, Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) and Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA), have made it clear that they will try to use these instructions to force Arctic drilling through the reconciliation bill.
By requiring those committees to "reduce spending" by $2.4 billion over 6 years, the budget conferees are sending those committees a clear and unambiguous signal to "drill away." It is no coincidence that $2.4 billion is almost exactly the federal share of the unrealistic projection for Arctic National Wildlife Refuge leasing revenue released several months ago by the Congressional Budget Office. Pressed by reporters at Thursday's press conference, Senator Gregg was forced to concede that this budget would allow the Senate to consider drilling in the filibuster-proof reconciliation bill.
This vote is another example of the extraordinary disconnect between public opinion and Congressional action. Americans have remained steadfast in their commitment to keeping the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge wild, unspoiled, and free of oil drilling. To an even greater extent, they are overwhelmingly opposed to sneaking drilling the Arctic Refuge into the budget process. Over the past several weeks, hundreds of thousands of Americans have called, written letters, e-mailed, and faxed their representatives in Washington to voice their opposition to Arctic Refuge drilling. And starting today, they will be letting their Members of Congress know how unhappy they are about this vote and encouraging their representatives in Washington to continue to fight to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
There are some places that should be off-limits to oil drilling and industrial development, and the Arctic Refuge is one of them. Drilling would do nothing to reduce gas prices or alleviate our dependence on foreign oil, yet the harm to wildlife habitat for polar bear, caribou, and millions of migratory birds and to the people of the Gwich'in Nation whose subsistence culture is based on the caribou would be permanent and irreparable. We have a moral responsibility to save wild places like the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for future generations. That's why our country has remained committed to its protection for nearly 50 years.
NATIONAL PETROLEUM RESERVE-ALASKA (NPR-A)
Northeast (NE)
Leasing - The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is currently developing a supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (sEIS) for the Northeast planning area. This sEIS revisits the stipulations developed for the NE area and changes them to more closely align with those being considered for the Northwest planning area. In all likelihood this would amount to eithr removing or weakening the stipulations from the NE planning area since BLM is considering completely bypassing such stipulations in the NW area.
In addition, the sEIS would likely "reassess" (i.e. open) the no surface activity zones south of Teshekpuk Lake as well as areas currently completely off limits to the oil industry. BLM's rationale for these actions comes from the industry's "need" to access the oil under these areas and the high expense and difficulty involved in using directional drilling.
BLM is expected to release the sEIS at the end of May 2004 and accept public comments on it through June. Public meetings will be scheduled throughout Alaska and, at least, one meeting is expected to be held in the Lower 48 likely in Washington, DC. The Northern Alaska Environmental Center will continue to monitor BLM's intentions toward the NE planning area and will fully encourage public comments should BLM decide to move ahead with this obvious attempt to undo their earlier promises.
Exploration - Conoco-Phillips has recently received permits to drill several exploratory wells immediately west of Teshekpuk Lake this winter (at a site they've named Puviaq) as well as several wells to the southeast of the lake. Prior to the lease sales being offered in the Northwest NPRA in June 2004, Puviaq was the farthest west exploration project in recent history. The site is a major environmental concern because of the proximity of this site to the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area, and the possibility of access from the coast.
Development - BLM is preparing an EIS for the first full field development project in the Northeast planning area of the NPRA. This development is a satellite to the Alpine field in the Colville River Delta (on state lands). The proposed project includes 22 miles of permanent gravel roads and a production site in the Fish Creek buffer zone area-both of which are currently prohibited by stipulations from the 1998 Northeast NPRA IAP/EIS. It is our understanding that BLM plans to roll back these and other stipulations in the SEIS to allow the proposed activities to occur.
The Northern Alaska Environmental Center firmly believes BLM should hold to the stipulations in the 1998 NE NPR-A IAP/EIS. These stipulations were intended to protect the environment and should not be dismissed when they become inconvenient to the oil industry. In addition, we believe that when assessing the potential impacts of development, BLM should consider the maximum development scenario. Development has for too long been conducted in a piece-meal fashion with a severe underestimation of the associated impacts or footprint. Finally, BLM should incorporate the results of the National Academy of Sciences' report on the "Cumulative Environmental Effects of Alaskan North Slope Oil and Gas Activities" into their impact analysis. This information is crucial to understanding the potential impacts of petroleum leasing within the NPRA.
What You Can Do
BLM is expected to issue the final EIS for the Alpine Satellite Development Plan in July 2004. The Northern Alaska Environmental Center will continue to monitor BLM's intentions toward the area and will fully encourage public comments when the EIS is released. If you are interested in being notified of the latest developments in the NPRA please sign up for the Northern Center's "Arctic Action" email list. You can do this by sending an email to (info@northern.org) and asking to join the list.
Northwest (NW)
Following two lease sales in the 4.6 million acre northeast part of the Reserve - the first in 1999, the second in June, 2002 - the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is planning a much larger lease sale in the 8.8 million-acres Northwest planning area for June 2004. The Northwest Planning Area encompasses most of the coastal wetlands of the Reserve not previously included in the Northeast area as well as cutting diagonally across the Reserve to encompass lands west and south of the Northeast area including a section of the Colville River.
While the Northern Alaska Environmental Center is not opposed to some responsible development within the Reserve, we believe that there must be a balance between development and protection. BLM must protect the most special places in the NPR-A and ensure that in areas where development proceeds, strong environmental safeguards are established and upheld to protect the land, air, water, and wildlife resources of this unique arctic environment.
Disregarding more than 95,000 public comments calling for common sense and balance between oil and gas development and environmental protection, the Bush Administration announced in January 2004, that it would put up for leasing nearly the entire Northwest planning area of the NPRA.
The final EIS also weakens current environmental safeguards by allowing the 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.
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.
Additional Information:
In the final EIS more than 40 of the stipulations found in the final EIS for the Northeast plan area have been rolled back. The rest have been significantly watered down-to the extent that what is left will fail to protect the fragile arctic ecosystem where development is allowed.
However, anAudubon Alaska report, "Alaska's Western Arctic: A Summary and Synthesis of Resources" (December 2002), documented ecological, subsistence, wilderness and economic resources of the Western Arctic, including the NPRA, and identifies six biological "hotspots" - areas of very high biological importance (see below for a summary of these hotspots). The conservation community has united behind these hotspots and has urged BLM to develop a new conservation alternative that incorporates special management of these important areas.
NPRA alternatives based on these hotspots would provide a sensible approach that balances the opportunity for oil leasing and exploration with protection of the area's outstanding natural wildlife and special places. This alternative would leave approximately 65% of high oil and gas potential areas open to leasing while protecting the six areas of highest biological importance.
Finally, the National Research Council (a division of the National Academy of Sciences) recently released a report on the "Cumulative Environmental Effects of Alaskan North Slope Oil and Gas Activities." This report is the first comprehensive attempt ever undertaken to even begin to assess the cumulative impact of oil exploration and development in the Arctic and identify the information needed to undertake a full assessment of such impacts. For these reasons, the information and analysis in the report and it's discussion of critical missing information and research needs are crucial to understanding the potential impacts of petroleum leasing within the NPRA. Therefore, we are encouraging BLM to incorporate this information into their alternatives.
AUDUBON ALASKA'S WILDLIFE HABITAT HOTSPOTS
Audubon's western Arctic synthesis suggests that the following areas within the Northwest Planning Area merit special management. (This discussion does not address wilderness or subsistence values.)
- TESHEKPUK LAKE SPECIAL AREA: Two small portions of this already-designated Special Area extend into the Northwest Planning Area. Both portions have high fish and wildlife habitat values, particularly for high-density waterbird nesting, including rare Yellow-Billed Loons. The area also has value as insect-relief habitat for caribou from the Teshekpuk Caribou Herd.
- COLVILLE RIVER SPECIAL AREA: The central portion of this already-designated Special Area occurs within the Northwest Planning Area. The Colville River is one of the most important raptor nesting areas in Alaska and in the world. The Colville and its tributaries also provide diverse and abundant habitats for songbirds, ungulates, and large carnivores, including wolves and grizzly bears. In addition to possessing wildlife and subsistence values, the Colville River watershed includes several proposed national natural landmarks and important archeological sites.
- DEASE INLET-MEADE RIVER: Adjacent to and west of the TLSA, the Dease Inlet-Meade River area provides important wetland habitat for waterfowl, loons, and shorebirds. Species nesting here in high densities include Yellow-Billed and Red-Throated Loons, Pacific Brant, Greater White-Fronted Geese, King Eider, and the threatened Spectacled Eider. Dease Inlet includes an important haul out for spotted seals and both sides of the outer inlet are used by polar bears for onshore denning. The outer coast, including Elson Lagoon, includes a seabird colony. Caribou use the area east of Dease Inlet as insect-relief habitat. The area also includes numerous deep-water lakes.
- PEARD BAY: Located east of Wainwright and west of Atqasuk, Peard Bay and adjacent wetlands to the south are characterized by lowland wet and moist tundra vegetation. Peard Bay provides high-density shorebird and waterfowl habitat and includes abundant high-density nesting areas for the threatened Spectacled Eider. Peard Bay also is a known denning area for polar bears.
- KASEGALUK LAGOON: The northern portion of Kasegaluk Lagoon, which is just east of the reserve's western boundary provides important marine mammal habitat, particularly for beluga whale summer concentrations and spotted seal haul outs. The area is also used by grizzly and polar bears that seasonally feed on marine mammals. Kasegaluk Lagoon has the richest avian diversity of any coastal lagoon system in Arctic Alaska, providing important habitat for waterfowl and shorebirds. The lagoon is particularly important to Pacific black brant for molting and fall staging. Kasegaluk Lagoon is also an important subsistence area for the communities of Point Lay and Wainright.
- SOUTH IKPIKPUK RIVER: The southern Ikpikpuk River and adjacent wetlands have high values for fish and wildlife. The area southeast of the headwaters of Ikpikpuk River has high densities of nesting Peregrine Falcons.
For additional information, please watch our NPR-A slideshow HERE or request a copy of our educational brochure (if you have a high speed internet connection, you may download a copy of the 24meg full-color brochure in pdf format by clicking HERE.)
OFFSHORE
Outer Continental Shelf: In 2001, the Minerals Management Service (MMS)-the federal agency in charge of offshore leasing-approved a five-year plan for the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) region. This region begins three miles off the coast of the United States. The first three miles off the coast is state land. One area included in the five-year plan was the Beaufort Sea area off the coast of Alaska's North Slope. MMS finalized a single Environmental Impact Statement for three lease sales in the Beaufort Sea extending from Canada almost to Barrow and from 3 to 60 nautical miles offshore.
Offshore lease sales jeopardize the integrity of the wilderness, wildlife and coastal habitats of the Arctic Refuge and Teshekpuk Lake as well as the marine ecosystem itself. Offshore exploration and development would cause pollution, aircraft and vessel noise and related industrial activity, and potential spills. Failure of four field tests showed industry's inability to contain and clean up an oil spill in Arctic waters during most of the year. Oil spills pose great threats to endangered bowhead whale migration and feeding areas, polar bear habitat, migratory bird, fish and other sensitive environments.
With offshore oil drilling there would be intense pressure to construct sprawling onshore airports, pipelines, roads, docks, and other support facilities within the Arctic Refuge. The last Beaufort Sea lease sale 170 set a precedent of not leasing off the coast of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. At that time, the Interior Department cited among many reasons, the lack of information on cumulative impacts on the refuge, emergency response plans, and sub-sea pipelines. That lack of information still exists.
Liberty: Until recently, British Petroleum was planning on developing a second offshore project - Liberty - that was heavily based on the same unproven technology as Northstar. While BP is currently less interested in developing at Liberty, the Minerals Management Service (MMS) has gone ahead and released the final Environmental Impact Statement for the project. This fEIS was released without a Record of Decision or a formal public comment period. MMS claims they'll do a complete, formal comment period when and if someone (BP or otherwise) resurrects the project. However, it's unclear whether MMS intends to use this document as a tiering document (i.e. base other projects off of it) without going through public process. The Northern Center will continue to monitor this issue and provide information as it becomes available.
Pt. Thompson: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently completed the scoping stage of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process for a gas cycling project at Pt. Thomson - directly adjacent to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
The Point Thomson project represents a major extension of North Slope infrastructure - right to the doorstep of the Arctic Refuge - and could be a severe threat to the wilderness qualities and wildlife of the Refuge. This project - put forward by ExxonMobil as their first major North Slope project - includes a drilling pad that is approximately 1.5 miles from the Arctic Refuge boundary along the coast and is connected to a 14 mile gravel road west towards Badami. The project also includes a dock that could ultimately be used for Arctic Refuge drilling.
The Pt. Thomson area is part of the summering grounds of the Porcupine caribou herd as well as a high use area for polar bears and could have negative effects on both species. In addition, the dock could have major impacts on migrating fish along the shore and could be used as an access site for future development within the Refuge.
Finally, for issues indicated to be of "national security", EPA is attempting to push this EIS process through on an extremely short time line - with only 15 months from beginning to end. With such a short time period, the possibility increases that the EPA may fail to analyze important data or may leave critical issues out of the EIS.
The Northern Alaska Environmental Center submitted comments during the EPA scoping period for the Pt. Thompson EIS requesting a five-mile buffer zone be created along the boundary of the Arctic Refuge to preserve the wilderness qualities and wildlife of the Refuge. At this time, the Pt. Thompson project is under question pending the decision of ExxonMobil and its partners to proceed. The company has until June 2006 to meet a state deadline to start development drilling or pay a $20 million penalty to the Alaska state treasury. We will remain involved in this issue and provide additional information when future opportunities for public involvement arise.
State Waters: In October 2004, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is conducting an areawide oil and gas lease sale in state waters in the Beaufort Sea. Originally, DNR considered deferring two stretches of tracts from the sale in response to concerns from local residents who use the areas for gathering activities (in the west) and harvesting bowhead whales (in the east). The western tracts went from Point Barrow to Tangent Point while the eastern tracts ran from Barter Island to the Canadian border. The Northern Center supported these deferrals in comments submitted to DNR in December 2003.
Prior to an official DNR ruling on the deferrals, Governor Frank Murkowski announced the eastern deferral off the coast of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would be included in the October sales. The Governor justified this inclusion by saying it would help ease the high gas prices being experienced by the country. On the contrary, any exploratory activities in these areas would not result in oil production for more than seven years. The Northern Center will remain active in this and other oil production issues in the North Slope. Through our website we will publicize opportunities for public involvement.
TRANS-ALASKA PIPELINE SYSTEM (TAPS)
The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) was recently granted a 30-year renewal of its state and federal right-of-way permits - despite numerous safety and monitoring concerns raised by the Alaska Forum for Environmental Responsibility, the Northern Alaska Environmental Center and other groups as well as over 100 concerned Alaskans.
To make matters worse, Alaska's newest Senator, Lisa Murkowski, successfully attached an amendment to the FY03 Omnibus spending bill which declared the final Environmental Impact Statement for the TAPS renewal to be sufficient for the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). By including this amendment on the spending bill, the legislative branch has essentially removed the rights of citizens to use the judicial branch to register concerns about legislative and executive branch decisions on public lands.
NATURAL GAS
Although the natural gas pipeline debates were revived during late 2000 and most of 2001, for the past year or so industry's enthusiasm for the project had waned. British Petroleum and Exxon Mobil - two of the three North Slope producers - were unwilling to move ahead with the pipeline project without assurity of economic viability. The third producer, ConocoPhillips remained more optimistic but appeared to be waiting for federal gas pipeline incentives before moving ahead.
Pipeline incentives were included as part of the proposed 2003 federal energy bill legislation. The incentives were a natural gas price floor in the form of a tax credit for gas producers if gas prices fell below a set rate. The Bush Administration voiced its opposition to the price floor, stating it was unfair to gas producers outside of Alaska. As of May 2004, the energy bill is still being debated by Congress.
In 2002, an Alaska state ballot measure created the Alaska Natural Gas Development Authority. The Authority is a public corporation of the state to acquire and condition North Slope natural gas and construct a pipeline to transport the gas from Prudhoe Bay south. The exact route of the pipeline has yet to be determined, although it is assumed it will have at least two branches, one to tidewater on Prince William Sound (where gas will be placed on tankers and shipped), and a land route that would likely travel along the Alaska Highway route through Canada to the Midwest.
Because natural gas is cleaner burning than coal and could be a transitional fuel source in the effort to reach sustainable energy goals, the Northern Center supports a natural gas pipeline designed in an environmentally sound manner. We will continue to monitor natural gas activities throughout the state.
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