Conservationists Sue to Halt Alaska Petroleum Reserve Leasing

WASHINGTON, DC, February 18, 2004 (ENS) - A coalition of seven environmental groups filed suit in federal court Monday challenging the Interior Department's decision to open the northwest portion of Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve to oil and gas development. The plaintiffs say the plan fails to permanently protect a single acre of the 8.8 million acre planning area and violates several federal environmental laws.

"The administration had a chance to strike a real balance between conservation and development in the western Arctic, but instead they took the most extreme option," said Deirdre McDonnell, an Alaska based attorney for Earthjustice, which is representing the coalition.

"Instead of looking for the middle ground, they said, 'Let us drill it all: permanently protect nothing, make environmental rules even weaker, and put wildlife and people at risk,'" McDonnell said.

The lawsuit was filed in federal district court in Juneau by Earthjustice on behalf of the Northern Alaska Environmental Center, Alaska Wilderness League, Center for Biological Diversity, National Audubon Society, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, and The Wilderness Society.

The plan will ramp up drilling in Alaska. (Photo by Pamela Miller courtesy ArcticGems)

Interior Secretary Gale Norton, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are named in the suit, which asks the court to order the agencies to rescind the decision and rewrite the plan.

The BLM plans to hold a lease sale for tracts in the northwest corner on June 2, 2004.

McDonnell said the plaintiffs will consider additional legal action - such as a preliminary injunction - to block the sale of any leases until a ruling is issued by the court.

The plaintiffs say the BLM violated the National Environmental Policy Act because the agency failed to assess the impacts from and alternatives to oil development in the reserve.

They allege the decision violates the Endangered Species Act because it ignores the status of threatened bird species that could be adversely affected by oil and gas development.

The reserve is vital to endangered waterfowl, migratory birds, caribou, polar bears and other mammals as well as to several thousand Alaska natives who live in the area and depend on the land for subsistence.

It contains important breeding, molting, and migrating habitat for birds, including Steller's and spectacled eiders, which are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

"By approving this project without carefully considering the full impacts of additional oil and gas leasing on the eiders and their habitat, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has violated the law and put the survival of these species at risk," said Corrie Bosman of the Center for Biological Diversity.

The management plan approved and signed by Norton, immediately opened 7.23 million acres of the 8.8 million acre northwest planning area of the reserve to oil and gas development.

The plan defers the remaining 1.57 million acres from leasing for 10 years. These deferred areas include several coastal and inland ecosystems important to wildlife.

Some animals have adapted to oil and gas development in Alaska, but drilling has left deep environmental scars on the fragile tundra. (Photo courtesy Arctic Power)

"The Bush administration continues to mislead the public," said Eleanor Huffines of The Wilderness Society. "When you read the details of their plans, all their claims about protecting special areas turn out to be smoke and mirrors. The 'special areas' do not get special treatment, and the 'strict environmental rules' are weaker than what we have now."

The Bush plan allows the Bureau of Land Management to modify or waive all of environmental safeguards on a case by case basis for "economic" reasons and changes existing prescriptive lease stipulations to mirror industry guidelines.

"There is no guarantee what will happen when it comes to development or exploration - that is why we need special protected areas," Huffines said.

The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that the entire 23.5 million acre reserve has between 5.9 and 13.2 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil with a mean estimate of 9.3 billion barrels. The area is the single largest block of public land in the United States and the majority of it is still wild.

The plaintiffs say the plan did not consider the impact on endangered species, including the spectacled eider. (Photo courtesy Fish and Wildlife Service)

"This decision forever casts the die on how this area will be used and how it will look for years to come," he said, adding that the BLM had ample information and opportunity to come up with a more balanced plan.

Audubon Alaska published a report in December 2002 outlining a wildlife habitat alternative that was supported by tens of thousands of public comments, but it was never taken seriously by the BLM, Senner said.

The Audubon alternative preserved leasing in 75 percent of the area, including 65 percent of the lands identified by the BLM as having high oil and gas potential.

"Audubon does not oppose prudent oil development," said Senner, "and our two-year study demonstrated that the reserve is large enough to balance oil drilling and wildlife protection, if you protect the right places."

"We are asking Interior to go back and try again. And, this time, to do it right."