FWS 'preliminarily' recommends wilderness for ANWR coast(08/15/2011) Phil Taylor, E&E reporter The Fish and Wildlife Service late Friday issued a preliminary proposal for Congress to designate new wilderness along the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge's oil-rich coastal plain, a move that drew fire from the state and its congressional delegation. The agency's draft "comprehensive conservation plan" for the 19-million-acre refuge in northeast Alaska says the 1.6-million-acre coastal plain is "highly suitable" for wilderness and is "preliminarily recommended" for designation, which only Congress can authorize. But the draft environmental impact statement does not include a preferred alternative, a decision that will be made sometime after the agency's three-month public comment period ends in November, the agency said. Potential drilling in ANWR has been one of the hottest flash points in the conservation debate for years. The draft also preliminarily recommends more than 10 million acres of new wilderness in the Brooks Range and the Porcupine Plateau and contemplates four new wild and scenic rivers. "The involvement of the public is a critical part of the multi-year comprehensive conservation plan development process, and we look forward to receiving substantive public input on the draft plan," Sharon Seim, natural resource planner in the Alaska region division of FWS conservation planning and policy, said in a statement. "We want to know what people like, what they don't like, and why. We want to know what we've missed and how we can make the plan better." The agency is holding six public open houses in Alaska through the beginning of September. The draft drew early praise from several environmental groups that have fought to protect the coastal plain from oil and gas development, which they warn could disrupt a critical birthing ground for polar bears, bird species and the porcupine caribou herd. "We certainly are optimistic that this means that FWS is leaning towards wilderness," Gwen Dobbs, a spokeswoman for the Alaska Wilderness League, said in an email. "From Sen. [Lisa] Murkowski [R-Alaska] and [Mark] Begich's [D-Alaska] reaction, it seems like they also think that the wilderness designation is a real possibility. We can hope." But the lawmakers and Gov. Sean Parnell (R) said the review itself is redundant and runs afoul of a 1980 Alaska lands law that they argue prohibits new wilderness reviews. "I disagree with them wasting their money on that plan, because it did nothing other than to tell us the stuff we already know," Begich told Greenwire late last month. "If they ever consider, or even attempt to put it into permanent status as wilderness, you will see us, or at least me and the delegation, fighting tooth and nail. We'll never let it happen." Murkowski, who is ranking member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the Appropriations subpanel that funds FWS, said in a statement Friday that the agency's review violates the 1980 Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. A provision of the law states, "No further studies of federal lands in the state of Alaska for the single purpose of considering the establishment of a conservation system unit, national recreation area, national conservation areas or for related or similar purposes shall be conducted," unless authorized by Congress. "The administration lacks authority to even conduct wilderness reviews in Alaska without the express consent of Congress," Murkowski said. "Congress has given no such approval." The agency, which could not be reached for comment in time for publication, in a statement said plan revisions are broad-based efforts rather than single-purpose studies of possible conservation system units. The review complies with a 2010 directive from former FWS Director Sam Hamilton, is consistent with ANILCA and the National Environmental Policy Act, and needs no authorization from Congress, the agency said. While oil and gas development is currently off limits on the coastal plain -- which is estimated to contain about 10 billion barrels of oil -- a wilderness designation, which bars the construction of roads and mechanical activity, would further impede development at a time when supplies to the nearby Trans-Alaska pipeline are dwindling, energy proponents say. Robert Dillon, a spokesman for Murkowski, said development of the refuge would provide new revenues to government coffers as lawmakers grapple over ways to reduce the federal deficit. "You could save a lot of debt with a million barrels a day," he said. "While we understand we need to raise revenue and cut spending, instead of looking to taxes, why don't we develop our resources?" The agency in its draft review said a wilderness designation on the coastal plain would allow current means of access to continue, including motorboat, snowmobile and aircraft use. Wilderness would also provide long-term protection for the lands, wildlife and subsistence users and would preserve the natural conditions in which their cultures evolved, it said. And while about 250 people recreate on the coastal plain each year, the agency said protecting the refuge from oil and gas provides intangible benefits to all Americans. "The coastal plain ... also holds symbolic and existence values for many people who find satisfaction in just knowing the area exists and will be passed on to future generations," the review states. "While many such values are not quantifiable, they are nonetheless real for many people." The agency has never recommended wilderness for the coastal plain. The previous conservation plan for the refuge in 1988 recommended full oil and gas development in the area and did not recommend wilderness for either the Brooks Range or Porcupine Plateau. Congress has since debated numerous bills that would either open the area to oil and gas development or preserve it as wilderness. Murkoswki is also pushing a bill that would allow companies to drill horizontal wells up to 8 miles underneath the coastal plain. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To unsubscribe from the IOWA-TOPICS list, send any message to: [log in to unmask] Check out our Listserv Lists support site for more information: http://www.sierraclub.org/lists/faq.asp Sign up to receive Sierra Club Insider, the flagship e-newsletter. Sent out twice a month, it features the Club's latest news and activities. Subscribe and view recent editions at http://www.sierraclub.org/insider/