On January 22, 2004, the Bush Administration issued its Record of Decision finalizing plans outlined in their Final Environmental Impact Statement to open 100 percent of the nearly nine million acre northwest planning area of America's Western Arctic to oil and gas leasing.
Though not unexpected, the final decision emphasizes the lop-sided decision making of the Bush Administration in favor of the oil and gas industries and against even limited protections for some our country's most valuable natural resources.
A report last year by the National Academy of Sciences found that after more than 25 years of drilling on Alaska's North Slope, the impacts of the current extent of industrial activity have eroded wildland values, clean air, and clean water over an area far exceeding the area of the industrial oil drilling complex itself, and warned of possible future dangers to human health in the region. The NAS report also reported that wildlife have suffered in a number of ways, including direct mortality and displacement, reduced reproductive rates of birds and caribou, and altered distributions of caribou and bowhead whales.
Conservationists sent a letter this week to the Bureau of Land Management expressing strong concerns over the decision. For more information and to access the letter, visit http://www.arcticgems.org/
Background
The National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A), which despite its name is a vast, wild and undeveloped swath of land, encompasses 23.5 million acres managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The NPR-A, also known as the Western Arctic, is the largest remaining block of unprotected land in the nation. The region is home to myriad wildlife and waterfowl, and is a vital subsistence hunting and fishing ground for native Alaskans.
In 1976, Congress acknowledged the significant wildlife and Native Alaskan subsistence uses in the region, and passed the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act, which made oil available, but treated the Western Arctic area differently from the other reserves where production was the primary focus. Three special areas were designated administratively in recognition of their unique wildlife values, however, this designation does not offer any permanent protection from oil and gas leasing or other types of development. These areas are the Utukok Uplands which are critical calving grounds for hundreds of thousands of arctic caribou, the Colville River which supports a world-class population of nesting birds of prey and the Teshekpuk Lake/Meade River region where threatened spectacled eiders nest each year. Other exceptional wildlife areas include the Kasegaluk Lagoon - home to beluga whales, spotted seals and black brant.
The vast majority of the Western Arctic remains totally undeveloped. However, oil development in the eastern-most part of the region began in 1999. Just over a year ago, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released a draft environmental impact statement analyzing four alternatives for the future management of the 8.8 million acre Northwest Planning Area of the NPR-A or Western Arctic. Despite the urging of more than 95,000 Americans and 100 scientists for a more common sense balance between development and conservation of this special wild place, the Bush Administration on November 20, 2003, announced its Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) which called for opening 100 percent of the nearly nine million acre northwest planning area to oil and gas leasing. Conservationists had argued for a management plan that would allow oil and gas leasing, but would protect such sensitive and wildlife-rich areas as the Kasegaluk Lagoon, Peard Bay, Dease Inlet-Meade River, Southern Ikpikpuk River, and Colville River Special Area.
For More Information
- Tim Bristol, Alaska Coalition, 907-321-3291
- Eleanor Huffines, The Wilderness Society, 907-272-9453
- Ken Rait, Campaign for America's Wilderness, 503-460-9453
- John Schoen, Alaska Audubon, 907-276-7034
- Cindy Shogan, Alaska Wilderness League, 202-544-5205
