US to Expand Alaskan Oil Drilling
The Bush administration said a Sept. 27 sale of oil drilling leases in Alaska should go forward and rejected a court’s objections that environmental effects have not been properly addressed.
The U.S. Interior Department said in a court filing yesterday that the impact of expanded drilling on air, water, wetlands and wildlife had been properly considered in the plan to expand drilling in the National Petroleum Reserve.
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge James Singleton in Anchorage ruled that an environmental impact statement prepared by the agency failed “to adequately address the cumulative effects” of drilling.
ยป Source: Bloomberg.com
“Depending on the resource or activity, the cumulative impacts throughout the entire North Slope are discussed,” the Interior Department said in the filing. The agency “conducted the required ‘hard look’ at those impacts given the limited nature of information available at the leasing stage.”
Singleton’s preliminary decision threatened plans to proceed with the lease sale and drew praise from groups including the National Audubon Society. The sale includes 400,000 acres around Teshekpuk Lake, an area environmental groups consider a critical Arctic wildlife habitat.
Expanding domestic oil and natural gas supplies was a cornerstone of the energy plan President George W. Bush unveiled early in his first term. Bush has so far failed to persuade Congress to allow drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, 300 miles to the east of the petroleum reserve.
Teshekpuk Lake
The 23-million acre National Petroleum Reserve, on the Beaufort Sea between Barrow and the Colville River, was established in 1923 as a source of oil for the U.S. Navy. Environmental groups and some lawmakers oppose drilling in the area between Teshekpuk Lake and the Beaufort Sea.
Thousands of geese gather to molt in the area, and caribou birth their calves there, according to the National Audubon Society. Two oil spills from BP Plc pipelines this year further east in Prudhoe Bay have stirred concern about drilling for oil on Alaska’s tundra.
The leasing plan acknowledged environmental concerns by imposing limits on surface structures and drilling activity during periods when wildlife could be impacted, the Bureau of Land Management said. The bureau oversees oil and gas drilling on federal lands for the Interior Department. Drilling would not be permitted in Teshekpuk Lake.
Prudhoe Bay Spill
The entire petroleum reserve could hold 9.3 billion barrels of crude, a 2002 U.S. Geological Survey report said. About 87 percent of the petroleum reserve has previously been available for drilling. The planned Sept. 27 lease sale would boost that to 95 percent.
BP in March reported the largest-ever oil spill on Alaska’s North Slope, and last month the company partially shut Prudhoe Bay, the largest U.S. oil field, after discovering pipeline leaks and corrosion.
BP, the world’s third-biggest oil company, neglected its Prudhoe Bay oil pipelines for years and may have suppressed worker complaints, U.S. lawmakers said at a Sept. 7 hearing in Washington. Senate Republicans who support expanded drilling in Alaska last week said BP’s problems may set back efforts to tap Alaska’s resources.
A Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll of 1,321 people in June found that 61 percent blamed Bush for high gasoline prices. In a July survey of 1,011 people, 32 percent said they have been forced to cut spending in other areas and to conserve energy. In the same poll, 51 percent were opposed to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge while 45 percent were in favor.
