Judge Keeps Oil Drillers from Alaskan Reserve

by Michelle Chen, NewStandard
http://newstandardnews.net/content/index.cfm/items/3641

Sept. 12 – Environmentalists are celebrating a recent court decision that bars the leasing of sensitive wetlands in the Alaskan wilderness for oil drilling.

Alaska US District Court Judge James Singleton issued a temporary injunction last week blocking a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) land sale near Teshekpuk Lake, a part of Alaska's North Slope region that has historically enjoyed federal protection. The groups take the preliminary decision as a sign that the court intends ultimately to strike down the initiative in a later ruling.

The land in question spans about 1.7 million acres in a government-designated oil-rich region known as the National Petroleum Reserve. The BLM had planned to sell off tracts surrounding the pristine Teshekpuk Lake to developers on September 27. The tracts hold an estimated 1.4 billion barrels of oil.

While targeted for its fossil-fuel resources, the Teshekpuk Lake area also provides a crucial habitat for migratory waterfowl, fish and caribou. Local indigenous peoples in turn rely on wildlife in the area for food.

The Alaska Wilderness League, Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity and other organizations sued the government in 2005 to stop the sale. The groups argued that the BLM and the US Fish and Wildlife Service had not fully evaluated the long-term threat that industrialization would pose to the area's natural resources. The groups further contended that the government had not comprehensively analyzed the relative impact of alternatives to the leasing plan and had failed to develop an adequate plan to address the environmental effects.

Judge Singleton noted in his ruling that the agencies had admitted to omitting some future environmental impacts and had argued that an in-depth evaluation in the early stages of the development plans would be "premature."

The judge found that the agencies violated federal environmental-protection statutes in failing to analyze the cumulative impact of the leases and that evidence indicated the resulting ecological damage "would constitute an irreparable injury."

The Department of the Interior opened 3.9 million acres of the Northeast Planning Area to energy development in 1998, and also recently allowed leasing on another 8.8 million acres in the northwestern part of the Reserve. In January of this year, the Department authorized additional leasing and development surrounding Teshekpuk Lake, though permanent drilling operations have not yet begun in the Northeast Planning Area.

© 2006 The NewStandard.