Kathleen Killoy

September 12, 2006

The Bush administration, despite strong opposition from environmental groups, has decided to open eight million acres of the North Slope of Alaska for oil leasing, beginning September 27. Included in the eight million acres are 373,000 acres of the Teshekpuk Lake area, located in the National Petroleum Reserve. The wetland-rich Teshekpuk Lake area is an irreplaceable wildlife habitat designated by the Department of the Interior in 1977 as an area of significant ecological value requiring a maximum level of protection. The Teshekpuk Lake area supports the highest numbers of nesting waterfowl on the reserve, provides for the largest goose molting concentration in the Arctic, and sustains both the Western Arctic Caribou herd and the Teshekpuk caribou herd. Not only are valuable birds and mammals threatened by oil leasing, but the families and communities of the Inupiat, the principal natives on the reserve, are at risk.

However, the reserve is estimated to hold between 5.9 billion and 13.2 billion barrels of recoverable oil and 39 trillion to 83 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. While it is believed that such a significant amount of oil will help alleviate the dependency of the U.S. on foreign oil, others contend that, given the recent history of drilling in the Arctic, opening the Tesheskpuk Lake area is not worth the risk. On March 2, 2006, British Petroleum (BP) was responsible for the largest oil spill in the history of the North Slope. In addition, BP recently had to shutdown the majority of its operations in Prudhoe Bay, due to corroded pipelines leaking oil. It is these events that prompted the Bush Administration to decide to open the Teshekpuk Lake area to oil leasing. Events like these, however, make it hard to gain support for any additional oil leasing on the North Slope, especially in an area as ecologically sensitive as the Teshekpuk.

One man in support of opening the area to oil leasing is Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne. Secretary Kempthorne, who just completed a tour of the region, is ready to move this project forward and is confident that satisfying our energy needs can coexist with protection of the environment. Kempthorne has stated that oil would not actually be extracted from the area for about a decade and assures that the drilling will be restricted around critical habitat used by caribou and geese. Despite requests to postpone the leasing from environmentalists, members of Congress, and local North Slope officials, Kempthorne intends to proceed as planned and open the area for leasing beginning September 27.

For more information, please see the following websites:

http://www.northern.org/artman/publish/teshekpuk.shtml

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/08/24/us_to_lease_8_million_acres_in_alaska_for_oil_and_gas_drilling/

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/08/bush_to_allow_m.php#comments

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Alaska_Oil.html