Posted: 01/27/2005
NPR-A Exploration Plan A Good First Step
Court Decision, Compromise Plan Put Domestic Energy Needs First
DALLAS (January 27, 2005) – A compromise plan that will allow energy production in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) is a good first step in putting domestic energy production at the forefront of government efforts to improve domestic energy security, according to NCPA Senior Fellow H. Sterling Burnett.
The plan, drafted by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), opens the Northwestern portion and a currently off-limits Northeastern region of the NPR-A for oil and gas exploration. It follows a court decision earlier this month that rejected a lawsuit brought by 7 environmental groups to stop the federal government from accessing the NPR-A.
“Many environmentalists have long argued that oil exploration in the Alaskan Natural Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) was not needed because NPR-A was nearby, yet their suit has prevented access to the NPR-A for more than a year,” Dr. Burnett said. “That’s rank hypocrisy.”
Despite the government’s complete vindication in court, Interior Secretary Gale Norton deferred 1.57 million acres of the 8.8 million-acre NPR-A from leasing for 10 years in the BLM plan to protect marine mammals and migratory bird routes. In addition, exploration will occur only in winter months.
Nonetheless, the new plan opens 7 tracts in the NPR-A that are estimated to contain up to 2 billion barrels of oil and 3.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that with the exception of ANWR the NPR-A holds the greatest reserves of oil and natural gas in the North Slope – between 5.9 and 13.2 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil and tens of trillions of cubic feet of natural gas.
“The NPR-A’s 23.5 million acres were set aside specifically for critical oil development,” Dr. Burnett added. “Allowing development of the entire northwest planning area still leaves 40 percent of the Indiana-sized reserve undeveloped.”