Coal, what Trump wants to do in Alaska

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The Trump administration recently proposed opening more than two-thirds of the nation's largest public land to oil and gas drilling, eliminating protections for Alaskan wilderness that have been in place for more than four decades. The Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) wants to allow fossil fuel extraction in about 82% of Alaska's National Petroleum Reserve on the state's northern slope. Less famous than the nearby Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, it is one of the most ecologically valuable tracts of federal property, providing vital refuge to polar bears as well as tens of thousands of caribou and migratory waterfowl. The Indiana-sized reserve is also one of the most promising onshore oil reserves in the country. A recent analysis by the United States Geological Survey offered a median estimate of 8.7 billion barrels of undiscovered oil and 25 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Under the current plan, finalized in 2013, half of the reserve's nearly 23 million acres are open to drilling. The new plan would increase the area exposed to development by about 7 million acres. President Trump is committed to expanding access to our nation's vast energy potential. Today's action is another significant step in the process of fulfilling his promise. David Bernhardt, Secretary of the Interior of the United States.

Bernhardt gave a statement saying the move was aligned with a March 2017 executive order from President Trump. The BLM released notice of its Final Environmental Impact Statement on Thursday, and is expected to issue a final record of the decision within 30 days. Environmentalists and some Alaska Natives, who have lived on the North Slope for millennia and depend on hunting for their livelihood, are likely to challenge the decision once it is final. ConocoPhillips has already been exploring the site, known as NPR-A, is Alaska's largest oil producer, totaling 1.1 million acres, and has discovered oil in remote areas called Elk's Tooth and Bear's Tooth. Many Alaska Natives who live near the reservation oppose further development, saying it could Bulgaria Mobile Number List harm the animals that make up an important part of their diet. Teshekpuk Lake serves as a molting area for one-fifth of the Pacific brent goose and as a calving site for tens of thousands of caribou each summer. Coal, what Trump wants to do in Alaska The new plan reduces the protected zone around Lake Teshekpuk, a 22-mile-wide reservoir created by thawing permafrost, although it restricts major construction activities with heavy equipment between May 20 and August 20, unless federal, state and local officials authorize it so caribou can calve and seek refuge from mosquitoes. It also removes most protections around the Colville River Special Zone, which was established in 1977 to protect birds of prey and other species in the area.



Fish and Wildlife Service officials last year recommended the administration maintain longstanding safeguards, according to documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act from the Wildlife Society. In them, the agency said: We believe that full protection of these areas is necessary to maintain the biodiversity and ecological integrity of the North Slope Coastal Plain, especially given the impacts of climate change, including increased coastal erosion and permafrost subsidence. Suzanne Bostrom, a staff member at the nonprofit law firm Trustees for Alaska, said in an interview that the fact that the BLM has come up with a drilling plan that goes beyond any of the options the agency outlined last year and that it is about to be finalized without public input, makes it legally vulnerable. We are definitely very concerned that they adopted a new, even more harmful alternative and that the public has not had the opportunity to weigh in. Suzanne Bostrom, a staff member at the nonprofit law firm Trustees for Alaska. For her part, Nicole Whittington-Evans, Alaska program director for Defenders of Wildlife, said in a statement: The plan cedes habitat vital to endangered polar bears, caribou and migratory birds to oil companies that will only exacerbate the climate crisis by expanding into a fragile border zone with new drilling. It's bad for the Western Arctic and bad for the planet. Nicole Whittington-Evans, Alaska program director for Defenders of Wildlife President Warren .