Salazar signs management plan for Alaska reserve 
 
NPR-A
Posted: Thursday, February 21, 2013 10:13 am | Updated: 11:54 pm, Thu Feb
21, 2013. 
Associated Press | 6 comments 
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A new management plan for the vast National Petroleum
Reserve-Alaska splits the Indiana-size area roughly in half between
conservation areas and land available for petroleum development, and
allows pipelines carrying oil or gas to be constructed through the
federal reserve.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Thursday he had signed a record
of decision for the reserve west of Prudhoe Bay and south of Barrow on
Alaska's North Slope. He said the balanced approach under the plan was
the result of extensive local testimony.
"This comprehensive plan will allow us to continue to expand our leasing
in the NPR-A, as has happened over the last three years, while protecting
the outstanding and unique resources that are critically important to the
culture and subsistence lifestyle of Alaska Natives and our nation's
conservation heritage," Salazar said.
Perhaps as important to the petroleum industry was the commitment to
access through the reserve for a pipeline that can connect oil drilled
offshore in the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas to the trans-Alaska pipeline.
The management plan provides "explicit confirmation" that potential
pipelines carrying oil or gas can be constructed through the reserve,
Salazar said in his announcement.
The Bureau of Land Management manages the reserve and estimates that
lands made available for development contain nearly three-fourths of
estimated economically recoverable oil and over half of the estimated
economically recoverable gas.
The reserve covers 23 million acres, and access to petroleum will be
allowed on 11.8 million acres that are estimated to hold 549 million
barrels of recoverable oil and 8.7 trillion cubic feet of recoverable
natural gas.
Salazar in August released details of a preferred alternative, and his
signing of the management plan was expected.
The department received more than 400,000 public comments.
Salazar characterized the reserve an "iconic place on our Earth."
The reserve is home to the 325,000 animals in the western Arctic caribou
herd and the 55,000 animals in the Teshekpuk caribou herd. Hunters from
40 northern and western Alaska Native villages rely on the caribou as a
subsistence resource.
The plan through an expansion of a Teshekpuk Lake Special Area continues
restrictions on development near renowned habitat for migratory
waterfowl, including black brant, Canada geese and greater white-fronted
geese.
It also creates the Peard Bay Special Area and enlarges the Utukok River
Uplands Special Areas, boosting special areas in the reserve from 8.3
million acres to 13.35 million acres.
Nicole Whittington-Evans, Alaska regional director for The Wilderness
Society, said Peard Bay is important for its wetlands and waterfowl
habitat. The entire coast is habitat for threatened polar bears plus
seals and walrus looking for places to rest as more summer sea ice melts,
she said. Utukok River Uplands, she said, is primary calving grounds for
the Western Arctic Caribou Herd and provides elevation and breezes where
the animals can get relief from insects.
Wilderness Society President Jamie Williams in a statement called the
plan a fair and thoughtful decision that balances conservation, Alaska
Natives' needs for subsistence resources, and the nation's demand for
energy.
Joshua Reichert of Pew Charitable Trusts called the decision the Obama
administration's crowning land conservation accomplishment to date.
But Brendan Cummings, an attorney for the Center for Biological
Diversity, said by email that additional areas should have been
protected.
"Like most things Obama, this plan is better than the Bush-era plan it
replaces but far short of what we need in terms of both energy policy and
protection of our most sensitive wildlands," he said. "In an era of
dangerous climate change, we simply should not be opening up any of our
public lands to fossil fuel development."
Previous management plans covered the northeast and northwest areas of
the reserve. The new plan is the first that covers the entire reserve.
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