The US Bureau of Land Management has received 13 bids totalling an underwhelming $14.5 million and covering 552,802 acres in the first oil and gas lease sale for the Coastal Plain of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
The US Bureau of Land Management has received 13 bids totalling an underwhelming $14.5 million and covering 552,802 acres in the first oil and gas lease sale for the Coastal Plain of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR).
Energy analysts said that the auction on 6 January was disappointing with only three oil companies bidding. Super majors steered clear of the sale amid low crude prices, fears of a public backlash and regulatory uncertainty. The three bidders were Knik Arm Services, Regenerate Alaska and the state-owned Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority.
The BLM offered 22 tracts, spanning approx. 1.1 million acres of the eligible 1.56 million acres included in the 2020 Record of Decision (ROD) for the Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Programme. BLM withdrew approx. 460,000 acres (10 tracts) from the sale after input from Alaska Native Tribes, nongovernmental organizations and the Canadian government. Most of the comments focused on the core calving area of the Porcupine Caribou Herd, and the importance of polar bear and migratory bird habitats, in particular for snow geese.
Supporters of the leasing remained upbeat. ‘After 40 years we have finally achieved a lease sale for the 1002 Area of ANWR as Congress mandated in 2017,’ said Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK).
Representative Don Young (R-AK-At- Large), said: ‘We are finally achieving what was promised when President Carter signed ANILCA into law. Alaskans have always been good stewards of their own land, and they know how to balance environmental protection with energy development.’
President Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 directs the Secretary of the Interior to conduct at least two area-wide leasing sales, not less than 400,000 acres each, within the Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Programme area of ANWR. The lease sales must be held within seven years with the first lease sale taking place on December 22, 2021 and the second lease sale before December 22, 2024.
A majority of the Coastal Plain Oil and Gas Leasing Programme area will be subject to no surface occupancy restrictions (359,400 acres) and operational timing limitations (585,400 acres) to protect habitat and wildlife.
A federal court in Alaska allowed the lease sale in Alaska to go ahead after it denied an appeal from environmental and Native American groups to block the sales.
Four lawsuits had been filed seeking to block the auction of drilling rights in the coastal plain of ANWR along the Beaufort Sea that took place on 6 January.
They had also requested a court order barring permits sought for seismic operations within 352,400 acres of the refuge’s 1.6 million-acre coastal plain. Opponents said seismic studies would disrupt resident populations of polar bears. The US Fish and Wildlife Service said seismic disturbances to bears would be minimal.
Had they succeeded decisions about the region would have been delayed until after the 20 January inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, who opposes drilling there.
Groups suing included the National Audubon Society, Center for Biological Diversity, Friends of the Earth, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and three Gwich’in tribal governments.
They argue that the lease sales would pave the way for irreparable damage to a pristine tundra ecosystem and that the federal government failed to adequately analyse greenhouse gas emissions from potential drilling in the area.
However, in her order district judge Sharon Gleason said the plaintiffs had failed to establish that they would suffer irreparable harm as a result of the sale. The groups have vowed to continue the legal fight.
In court filings, opponents cited a recent decision by the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals that cancelled approval of what could become the nation’s first offshore oil production facility in federal Arctic waters. In that decision, the court found that the Department of Interior had failed to account for increased carbon emissions overseas when it approved the project.
