A lease sale in the NPR by 1998?

The Alaskan oil and gas industry is obviously pleased by the Department of the Interior's decision to evaluate the possibility of a lease sale within the National Petroleum Reserve, Alaska in the near future. The BLM is compiling an environmental impact statement with assistance from the MMS, a sister agency. The draft version of this EIS was completed in October of this year and become publicly available this month. The final version is due in June, and the Secretary of the Interior will make a record of decision by July of 1998. A lease sale could follow shortly, if that is the decision. Five alternatives are being considered. They range from offering everything for lease to offering nothing, along with three other alternatives.

NPR-A was the site of investigations by the U.S. Government from 1944-52 and from 1974-82. These investigations resulted in the collection of significant amounts of regional geologic data, as well as the discovery of natural gas at Barrow.

The BLM subsequently leased 1.4 million acres in four lease sales over a two-year period leading to the drilling of only one well. All of the acreage has now reverted to the BLM. Why the sudden, intense industry interest now, if they spent $85 million on leases and obtained only one dry hole? The two answers are the Alpine Field and 3-D seismic technology. The Alpine project being developed in the Colville River area by ARCO, Anadarko and Union Texas Petroleum has proceeded, to a large extent, with the utilization of 3-D seismic technology.

In July, Deborah L. Williams, Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Interior for Alaska, told The Alliance that industry had selected the upper third of the 4.6 million-acre EIS block along the trend of the Barrow Arch, in line with the Alpine Field. Also in July, Thomas J. Allen of the BLM told the same group that he expected significant seismic activity this winter within that area. This confirms industry's renewed interest after 13 years without a lease sale.

Considering the usual position of this administration, speculation has been that the Secretary's decision would be unfavorable to the industry and to Alaska. Williams also stated that Secretary Babbitt considered the Alaska oil and gas industry to be on the "cutting edge." The Secretary recently spent four days in NPR-A with "thoughtful and communicative people." The majority of North Slope residents reportedly spoke in favor of a sale as long as their subsistence life-style was protected. Others were concerned about the cumulative impact of oil and gas operations on their way of life.

The decision whether or not to open this area for leasing should be made only on the facts of the case. However, one cannot discount the possibly that an NPR-A lease sale would mollify efforts to open ANWR. We wait anxiously for the Secretary's decision.