NPR-A Lease Sale 2017

ACTION ALERT
Call for comments for National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska
Comment Deadline September 6, 2017

Overview

The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has issued a call for comments for the 2017 National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) lease sale. The call for comments pertains to all unleased tracts, including tracts unavailable for leasing under the 2013 NPR-A Integrated Activity Plan. Only unleased tracts included in the 2013 NPR-A management plan will be offered in the 2017 sale.

However, the request for comments over the entire NPR-A is the first step in actions ordered by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke in revising the Obama-era management plan which closed 11 million acres of the energy reserve’s 22.8 million acres to leasing, including highly-prospective lands in the northeast sector near potential new development and areas adjacent to Teshekpuk Lake.

The information provided in comments will be used by BLM in its review of the current management plan to ensure it contains an appropriate balance of promoting development while protecting surface resources. Comments are due September 6th.

Action Requested:

Please submit comments encouraging BLM to open all of NPR-A’s subsurface to oil and gas and mineral leasing, including transport of energy resources. Mail comments to: State Director, Bureau of Land Management, Alaska State Office, 222 West 7^th Avenue, Mailstop 13, Anchorage, AK 99513-7504. There are no other ways to comment, so please mail your comments today.

Points to consider in your comments:

• All of NPR-A’s subsurface should be open to oil and gas, mineral, and coal leasing, with mitigation measures to protect surface resources, but which do not block development of onshore energy deposits or infrastructure necessary to transport offshore energy resources to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS).

• The current land management plan for NPR-A is inconsistent with the primary purpose of the petroleum reserve and unnecessarily emphasizes preservation over multiple use. This is unacceptable for an area put aside for oil and gas development.

• The 2013 Integrated Activity Plan for NPR-A unnecessarily prohibits leasing and development in much of Northeast NPR-A and potentially oil-rich lands adjacent to Teshekpuk Lake to protect subsistence resources. It is important to remember this is a petroleum reserve and these resources can be protected without closing areas to leasing.

• Advances in technology have greatly reduced the footprint of development in the Arctic, allowing for consolidation of facilities and the preservation of more acreage within development zones for wildlife habitat. Development of oil and gas resources can coexist with traditional subsistence activities, cultural resources, wildlife, and the environment.

• Geologists believe that recent large oil discoveries in the relatively shallow Nanushuk formation east of NPR-A and in State of Alaska waters of Smith Bay hint of large oil deposits in the energy reserve.

• The newly-found potential of the Nanushuk play and the potentially large discovery at Smith Bay indicates NPR-A’s energy reserves may be much higher than estimated under the Obama administration.

• The discovery and development of new oil and gas deposits will benefit Alaska local communities, Alaska, and the nation. State and local revenues derived from production will help sustain important state services to residents and dependence on foreign oil.

• New industry activity will provide thousands of job opportunities, boost the local and state economy, and refill TAPS, which is currently running at three-quarters empty.

• Development of new energy deposits will also enhance the nation’s economy, reduce reliance on imported oil, and help establish American energy dominance.

• The Secretary of the Interior should advance a recommendation to President Trump and Congress to open NPR-A to mineral entry. With the outstanding track record of the mining industry in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic, the technological advances of the past 40 years, and the increasing need for strategic minerals, NPR-A should be open to industrial mineral and coal leasing.

• The northern foothills of the Brooks Range in Southern NPR-A have significant potential for base metals discoveries similar to the rich zinc and lead ores found elsewhere in Alaska. It is well known that the region also holds significant deposits of copper and iron, as well as some of the most significant coal deposits anywhere in the world.

• Opening highly-prospective areas of NPR-A to future oil and gas lease sales and ultimately opening the reserve to mineral entry would advance BLM’s “all-of-the-above” approach to energy development, which includes oil and gas, coal, strategic minerals and renewable sources.

Deadline Wednesday, September 6, 2017