23-01-04
Interior Secretary Gale Norton signed off on a plan for opening most of an
8.8 mm-acre swath of Alaska's North Slope to oil and gas development. Some of
the drilling could occur in areas important for migratory birds, whales and
wildlife. The Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management will use the plan
to manage a northwest portion of the government's 23.5 mm-acre National
Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. Geologists believe the reserve may contain 6 bn to 13
bn barrels of oil.
It is located just west of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, where President
Bush wants to open a 1.5 mm-acre coastal plain to drilling as one of his top
energy priorities. The Senate, in debating a massive energy bill, has rejected
drilling there.
Environmentalists said the management plan threatens the health of arctic
tundra, ponds and lakes that are home to wildlife and migratory birds and
provide a vital subsistence hunting and fishing ground for native Alaskans.
"It makes no sense to industrialize this incomparable wilderness area when
there's only about six months' worth of economically recoverable oil... and it
would take at least 10 years to get it to market," said Charles Clusen,
director of the Alaska lands project for the Natural Resources Defence Council,
an environmental group.
The plan makes 7.23 mm acres available for energy leasing but will defer
leasing the other 1.57 mm acres for a decade to see whether more environmental
studies are needed, Interior Department officials said. All energy leases will
be subject to strict environmental standards, the officials said, while other
provisions are meant to protect water quality, vegetation, wetlands, fish and
wildlife habitat, and subsistence uses.
The Interior Department proposed the management plan last January. With few
changes, the plan includes creation of a 102,000-acre Kasegaluk Lagoon Special
Area fenced off from leasing. It is considered particularly sensitive, as it is
home to beluga whales, spotted seals and the black brandt, a migratory wild
goose.
The plan designates special study areas of more than half a million acres
each for the Pacific black brandt and caribou.
It also requires habitat studies for the eider, a bird whose existence is
imperilled, and yellow-billed loons.
Source: The Associated Press