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WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

New Oil, Gas Leases Compete with Alaskan Wildlife

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Forest Networking a Project of Ecological Enterprises

http://forests.org/

1/17/97

OVERVIEW, SOURCE & COMMENTARY by EE

President Clinton has ordered a planning process for new oil and gas leases

to for the north-central coast of Alaska. This along with the Tongass

logging situation may portend bad tidings for the United State's last great

wilderness.

g.b.

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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

New Oil, Gas Leases Compete with Alaskan Wildlife

Posted to the web: Thu Jan 16 14:44:17 EST 1997

http://www.envirolink.org/environews/enews.html

The Environment News Service is exclusively hosted by the EnviroLink

Network. Copyright c 1997 ENS, Inc.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 16'97 (ENS) - New oil and gas leases could be opened on

the north-central coast of Alaska in areas where wildlife now flourishes.

President Bill Clinton has directed Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt

to initiate a planning process for the northeast corner of the National

Petroleum Reserve - Alaska (NPR-A) in the area of Harrison Bay. Nearby is

the largest lake on the north coast of Alaska, Teshukpek Lake, and the

entire area is dotted with smaller lakes.

The 23,000,000-acre NPR-A lies between the crest of the Brooks Range and

the Arctic Ocean. The Department of Interior was given the discretion to

lease in the reserve in 1981, and four lease sales were held between

1983-1985. However, no leases from these sales were ever actively developed

and all have since expired. The NPR-A is managed by the Bureau of Land

Management.

The new planning effort will involve the preparation of an Environmental

Impact Statement which will consider the potential for oil and gas leasing

as well as protection for wildlife and other habitat resources within the

area studied.

This section of the petroleum reserve is rich in wildlife and waterfowl,

including highly significant waterfowl nesting areas and the calving area

for the Teshekpuk caribou herd.

"The resources of the northeast area of NPR-A have become of greater

interest in recent years as oil and gas development approached the

reserve's eastern boundary," Babbitt said. "This integrated planning

approach will allow us to proceed in a reasoned and scientific manner, and

to reach out to all those with an interest in these vital lands. We will

use the data gathered in this process to make sound decisions about both

resource development and habitat protection in the future."

"This administration's philosophy is that there are lands that may be

suitable for oil and gas drilling and should be developed in an

environmentally and scientifically sound manner," Babbitt added. "At the

same time, this administration remains fundamentally opposed to oil and gas

development in areas such as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge."

The planning process will include that portion of the NPR-A north of Umiat

and west from the Colville River boundary to the Ikpikpuk River. This

section of the NPR-A is bounded to the east by state and private land, on

which oil development is ongoing.

The planning effort, expected to take 18 months, will allow the Department

of the Interior to work closely with all interested parties including the

state of Alaska, the North Slope Borough, Native Alaskans, local residents,

industry and the environmental community.

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