Feds seek to ‘streamline’ Arctic oil permitting, ending environment studies of individual projects

Trump administration’s proposed rule would eliminate the need for projects to undergo impact studies that have been standard under longtime federal law

The northeastern part of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska is seen on June 26, 2014. The Trump administration is proposing a new rule to eliminate the need for environmental studies of individual oil projects in the reserve. (Bob Wick/U.S. Bureau of Land Management)

By Yereth Rosen

Alaska Beacon

The Trump administration on Friday moved to exempt oil projects in federal territory on the west side of the North Slope from environmental reviews that have been standard for decades.

An industry-initiated proposed rule announced by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management would eliminate the need for review of individual development projects in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, or NPR-A.

Those projects would be excluded from requirements for individual reviews, as is prescribed by the National Environmental Policy Act, which was signed into law in 1970.

Instead of being subject to case-by-case studies, NPR-A projects would be covered by a single environmental study, under the rule. The BLM would also be required to issue permits to covered projects within 60 days of developers’ applications, under the proposed rule.

The quicker approvals are in the nation’s interest, Trump administration officials said.

“Responsible development shouldn’t be held back by redundant paperwork. By utilizing over 20 years of rigorous environmental data, we are replacing slow, case-by-case reviews with a standardized process that maintains our high environmental standards, while giving operators the predictability they need to build,” BLM Director Steve Pearce said in a statement. “This is about working smarter, honoring the Trump administration’s commitment to energy security, and ensuring Alaskans directly benefit from the resources in their backyard.” 

The statement describes the rule as one that will “streamline” permitting.

The proposal comes in response to a petition submitted in May by the Alaska Oil and Gas Association. The trade organization asked the Trump administration for a new system to fast-track development in the Arctic region that has become increasingly attractive to oil companies.

In its petition, the industry group said the BLM need not do case-by-case environmental analysis of new development projects in the reserve because past environmental impact studies for previously approved projects and management policies have already covered the questions sufficiently.

“Those collective (National Environmental Policy Act) reviews have spanned a period of almost three decades and have generated a substantial amount of information and analyses regarding the environmental impacts associated with production sites in the NPR-A and similar adjacent lands, and the mitigation of those impacts,” the petition said. “For sites meeting the common specifications of those that have already been exhaustively analyzed, the environmental impacts and the mitigation of those impacts are well-studied and well-known.”

The proposed rule is set to be published Sep. 8 in the Federal Register. That will launch a 60-day public comment period, to end Nov. 9.

Opposition expressed

Environmental groups have opposed the idea since May, when AOGA submitted its petition and the Trump administration launched the formal process that resulted in Friday’s proposed rule.

They reiterated their opposition Friday.

“This rule rigs our system for fossil fuel interests by requiring BLM to approve massive oil projects while eliminating the public’s freedom to say ‘No’ to unwanted developments on these shared lands. No company should get a blank check to develop the Western Arctic,” Matt Jackson, Alaska senior manager of The Wilderness Society, said in a statement.

“What we’re seeing here is a concerted attack by the Trump administration to greenlight oil and gas drilling in the Western Arctic while ignoring the harm it will cause to these irreplaceable public lands and also the government’s obligation to protect these lands for wildlife and future generations,” Erik Grafe, an attorney for the environmental law firm Earthjustice, said in a statement. The proposal “flaunts basic environmental laws meant to protect land, wildlife and people,” Grafe added.

Last week, in anticipation of the rule announcement, the leader of a North Slope Native organization issued a statement of opposition.

“Once again, the Trump administration is moving forward with a catastrophic proposal without consulting or considering the communities who will bear its consequences,” Rosemary Ahtuangaruak, executive director of Grandmothers Growing Goodness, said in an Aug. 27 statement. “In the past, we have worked directly with the government to prevent the worst impacts of oil and gas development in the Western Arctic. This new categorical exclusion shuts us out of the process, silencing the people who know the land best and puts our way of life – and future generations – at risk just to serve corporate greed.” 

Other organizations representing the North Slope’s Indigenous people have expressed a more mixed view of the idea.

That was reflected in comments submitted to the BLM in July, during the initial scoping process that led to Friday’s announcement, by the North Slope Borough, the for-profit Arctic Slope Regional Corporation and the Iñupiat Community of the Arctic Slope, a Tribal government.

The groups are “generally supportive of efforts to streamline permitting for production sites in the NPR-A,” the joint comment document said. However, they said they had concerns that the new rule might not allow for proper consultation with local communities and might not adequately protect subsistence resources.

Industry interest

The 23-million-acre petroleum reserve is currently seen as a highly prospective area for new oil development in the Arctic. The northeastern part of the reserve has drawn keen industry interest in recent years, largely because of related geological formations called Nanushuk and Torok that run through it.

ConocoPhillips, the dominant company operating in that part of the North Slope, has numerous fields already producing oil or in development that tap into Nanushuk and Torok oil.

One is the huge Willow project in the reserve, under construction and expected to start producing in late 2029. It is on track to be the westernmost producing oil field in Arctic Alaska, and the company has said peak production is expected to be 180,000 barrels a day from a resource that is estimated at about 600 million barrels.

A federal lease sale held in March, part of a series conducted by the government since 1999, drew a record $163 million in high bids.

Oil  is not the only resource of interest in the Indiana-sized reserve. The site is used by caribou herds, migratory birds and other wildlife, and the area is important for traditional subsistence food-gathering by residents of the region’s Native villages. 

The reserve is also famous for its paleontological resources; an area along the Colville River has yielded numerous significant discoveries of Arctic dinosaurs.

The reserve has had a history of management changes that resulted in a multiple-use approach balancing development with conservation.

It was established by President Warren Harding in1923 as a potential source of petroleum for the nation’s military forces. A federal law passed in 1976 gave the BLM authority over the reserve, and a 1980 amendment to that act established a series of environmental protections. Among those protections was the designation of a special area for Teshekpuk Lake, the largest Alaska lake above the Arctic Circle.

Trump administration policies have sought to strip protections from the Teshekpuk Lake area and the caribou herd that bears the lake’s name. Those policies have resulted in litigation.

The petroleum reserve went undeveloped for most of its history, with only sporadic exploration until the end of the 20th century.

Industry and government attention began to shift to the petroleum reserve after Arco Alaska in the 1990s discovered the large Alpine field on state land bordering the reserve, at the Colville River Delta. Arco’s assets, including Alpine, are now owned by ConocoPhillips. That company in 2015 became the first to produce oil from land within the reserve boundaries. Since then, other production in the reserve has followed.

• Yereth Rosen came to Alaska in 1987 to work for the Anchorage Times. She has been reporting on Alaska news ever since, covering stories ranging from oil spills to sled-dog races. She has reported for Reuters, for the Alaska Dispatch News, for Arctic Today and for other organizations. Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.