BLM issues final SEIS for Greater Mooses Tooth project in NPR-A

The US Bureau of Land Management released its final supplemental environmental impact statement for the proposed Greater Mooses Tooth (GMT1) oil and gas project within the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. “Reaching this stage of permitting is a major milestone for the project and for the future of balanced, responsible federal oil production in the NPR-A,” BLM Director Neil Kornze said.

As proposed by ConocoPhillips Alaska Inc., GMT1 would include construction of an 11.8-acre drilling pad in the northern portion of the 23-million acre NPR-A, BLM said Oct. 29. Along with above-ground elevated pipelines and an electric power line, the project would provide access to both federal and Arctic Slope Regional Corp. oil and gas resources, it noted.

The final SEIS identified Alternative B as the US Department of the Interior agency’s preferred alternative. It would provide for as many as 33 development and injection wells on a single well pad at GMT1 as well as an 8½-mile gravel road that would provide access for spill and emergency response.

In a statement, ConocoPhillips said it was pleased the agency chose an alternative with a road, but added that the choice was not what the company proposed. It said that its proposal, Alternative A, has the lowest environmental footprint, requires the least amount of gravel, and remains the best alternative in its view.

“We are currently pursuing a [US Army] Corps of Engineers 404 permit for Alternative A,” the statement said. “The Corps has not yet determined which alternative is the ‘least environmentally damaging practicable alternative.’ ConocoPhillips expects that BLM has flexibility to approve the alternative selected by the Corps.”

The final SEIS concluded that both Alternatives A and B substantially reduce the potential impacts of aircraft overflights relative to other alternatives, which is particularly important to local communities and subsistence users, BLM said.

“Importantly, the final SEIS describes a robust and innovative suite of best management practices and mitigation measures to avoid, minimize, and compensate for potential impacts to the environment and subsistence uses,” it said.

BLM said that in addition to best management practices and mitigation measures which NPR-A’s integrated activity plan requires already, its forthcoming record of decision for the project will include additional mitigation measures which may include:

• Development of a long-term regional mitigation and monitoring strategy.

• Establishment of a BLM compensatory mitigation fund to promote conservation and restoration in the NPR-A, including potentially legacy well remediation.

• Aircraft and traffic operational requirements to minimize impacts on caribou.

• A road access agreement to facilitate access for local Native communities while restricting nonlocal access.

• Contributions to a scientific study monitoring wildlife populations, habitat, and ecosystem processes which potentially could feel development impacts.

Before making a final decision on the project, BLM said it will consider the views of the US Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) and the Environmental Protection Agency, which are currently reviewing a Clean Water Act application ConocoPhillips submitted for the project. ACE must select the Least Environmentally Damaging Practicable Alternative, and that decision will be considered in choosing the alternative BLM ultimately selects in its record of decision (ROD), the DOI agency said.

“This SEIS reflects a thorough analysis of the potential environmental effects across a range of development alternatives and is the product of robust public engagement and input from stakeholders, including Alaska Native communities,” Kornze said.

“The GMT1 Final SEIS advances BLM’s NPR-A Integrated Activity Plan (OGJ Online, Mar. 30, 2012) and encourages responsible energy development in the Arctic while ensuring that unique Alaskan resources and local subsistence values are protected,” he maintained.

Alaska’s US senators’ initial responses were mixed. Democratic Mark Begich said the announcement means ConocoPhillips now will be able to receive final permits and develop the project.

“While it hasn’t happened as quickly as anybody would have wanted, we will soon have a world-class, responsibly developed oil field in the NPR-A,” Begich said. “Oil from GMT1 will slow the decline in volume through the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS), protect key subsistence areas, and provide needed income for the state and many local shareholders.”

Sees possible delays

Republican Lisa Murkowski, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee’s ranking minority member, also welcomed BLM’s announcement, but expressed concern about BLM’s plans to delay critical decisions until the ROD so it can consider input from ACE and EPA’s environmental reviews.

“I am concerned about the critical project decisions that are being left for the record of decision, which could [affect] whether this project moves forward or not,” she said. “Federal leaseholders need to have a permitting process that is timely and predictable in order to invest the billions of dollars it takes to develop America’s energy resources.”

Murkowski said that BLM’s supplemental EIS rejected ConocoPhillips’s preferred alternative for developing its federal leases at GMT1 with an 8-mile gravel road which would allow year-round drilling. Instead, it selected a longer and more expensive road option, but said it would leave the final decision open until ACE and EPA finish their own reviews, she said.

The senator also said the SEIS asserted that development in the NPR-A could have major impacts on subsistence, which ConocoPhillips and surrounding Alaska Native landowners dispute.

Murkowski said she expects this determination to be walked-back in the final ROD once mitigation measures, particularly those ConocoPhillips has already built into the project, and the benefits of a road—which increases access for subsistence hunting and fishing—have been taken into account.

BLM needed to finalize the SEIS by the end of October to give the ACE and EPA enough time to complete their permitting so ConocoPhillips could begin production by 2017, she said.

Fails balance test

Six environmental organizations jointly disputed Kornze’s assertion that BLM’s final SEIS for the project reflected a balanced approach. They said that allowing construction of a road would permanently damage the Western Arctic’s sensitive wetlands and tundra, and cause lasting adverse impacts on the region’s wildlife and subsistence values.

“BLM must ensure the smallest possible environmental footprint for the Greater Mooses Tooth project,” said Cindy Shogan, the Alaska Wilderness League’s executive director. “This project is the bellwether for all future development in the Reserve, which is why it’s critical that BLM gets this right the first time.”

The groups said GMT1 would be in NPR-A’s northeastern corner near the Teshekpuk Lake and Colville River Special Areas, which provide important habitat for caribou, polar bears, migratory birds, and waterfowl. It also would be near the Colville River Delta, northern Alaska’s largest and most productive river delta, and have direct impacts on the Colville’s Fish Creek tributary, they added.

Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].