The Trump administration on Sept. 4 moved to exempt oil projects on federal lands on the west side of Alaska’s 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.
“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.
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 projects in the reserve because past environmental impact studies for previously approved projects and management policies have already covered the questions sufficiently.
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.
Environmental groups have opposed the idea since May. 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.
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.
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 Corp. 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.
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.
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.
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 Alaska Beacon is an independent, donor-funded news organization, online at Alaskabeacon.com.
