Hooray, hooray NPR-A.

AuthorMcCorkle, Vern C.
PositionFrom the Publisher - National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska

The environmental protections that accompany the U.S. Department of the Interior's lease arrangements for the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) are among the most restrictive and publicly vetted constraints ever required for petroleum resource development anywhere in the world.

But not surprisingly, the national and Alaska environmental lobby and special interest groups, (self-appointed dictators for Alaska's future and economic well being), are voicing objections the likes of which have not been heard here for awhile. Still bloated and swaggering from their victory over their ANWR defeat in Congress last month, they have the audacity to bewail that the recent NPR-A plan amendment would forever ruin the absolute very last 4 1/2 million acres of Alaska's treeless, icy plain. Headline writers call it rich in wildlife, but fail to point out that it is also rich in gas and oil reserves!

As this edition of Alaska Business Monthly went to press, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior, Chad Calvert, notified us that the department had approved a plan amendment for the extreme northeast corner of the NPR-A that would permit leasing, exploration and perhaps eventual production in an area that had been set aside since 1!)23 for such development.

The areas to be leased, explored and eventually developed have been arranged in seven tracts on which oil companies will be closely supervised and permitted to prepare gravel pads and place oil field equipment on a maximum of only 300 acres, an area smaller than urban Anchorage's Russian Jack Park.

The conditions...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT