For those who are interested but didn't visit the webpage today for this article, I'm am posting it. Jane Clark Arctic drilling bill caps development size Monday, November 12, 2001 By BEN SPIESS AND LIZ RUSKIN SCRIPPS-MCCLATCHY WESTERN SERVICE WASHINGTON -- Supporters have told Congress that drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would have little impact on the environment. With sideways drilling and other advances, they say, the oil beneath the 1.5 million-acre coastal plain can be tapped with a "footprint" on the surface no larger than 2,000 acres. To win support for the drilling before the U.S. House vote on energy legislation, Rep. John Sununu, R-N.H., put the promise in the bill, saying the "surface acreage covered by production and support facilities" must not exceed 2,000 acres. After passing the House, the bill is now in the Senate, where the 2,000-acre limit has appeared as part of two attempts to open the refuge to oil companies. But critics of ANWR drilling said the limit is a hollow gesture to protect Alaska's Arctic. Under the 2,000-acre limit, development could still span 1 million of the 1.5 million acres on the coastal plain. Also, they say, the measure has loopholes exempting gravel mines and roads near the fields from the acreage cap, which could add hundreds more acres to the affected area. "With 2,000 acres, companies can industrialize almost the entire area," said Peter Van Tuyn, an attorney with Trustees for Alaska, an Anchorage environmental law firm. Oil drilling supporters do not disagree. But the 2,000-acre cap is not a meaningless gesture, they argue. That limit would force design of compact facilities and put a premium on low-impact development. "Could they recover the reserves? Yes," said Ken Boyd, a geologist in Eagle River. "But it forces the industry to be smart and careful in what they choose to do." How development in the 19 million-acre reserve would look under the 2,000-acre cap is unclear. Assuming oil is spread evenly beneath the coastal plain -- which geologists say is unlikely -- oil companies could build 20 oil fields each of 100 acres. Assuming drill bits reach five miles from each site, production pads spaced 10 miles apart could tap more than 1 million acres of the coastal plain. The fields could be supported from the air and connected only by pipeline. Phillips Petroleum Co.'s new Alpine field west of ANWR is less than 100 acres and considered the model of Arctic oil development today. But Pam Miller, an Anchorage environmental consultant, said the field is becoming a springboard for sprawl. Five other fields have been discovered nearby. While the combined acreage of development would likely be under 500 acres, the pipeline and facilities span more than 128,000 acres. Air traffic in the area is constant. Caribou patterns have been disturbed, villagers say. Development supporters draw a different picture. Development would be concentrated in the western half of the coastal plain, where oil reserves are likely concentrated, said Roger Herrera, a lobbyist for Arctic Power, a state- and industry-funded ANWR development group. While roads are not itemized in the House bill, he said, it is implied that they are part of the limit. Either way, winter ice roads would likely be the main transportation, he said. Any gravel mines would likely be sculpted into the river banks, and, he said, assuming they fill with water, the mines would create bird habitat. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To get off the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask]