New Alaska Oil Leases Being Offered

Oil transit and other pipelines run from BP's flow station FS1 Thursday, Aug. 10, 2006 on Prudhoe Bay oil field on Alaska's North Slope. The center pipeline carrying oil leaked last week due to corrosion and insulation has been stripped to allow for ultrasound testing of the pipe. BP, the world's second-largest oil company, began shutting down the pipelines and said it would replace 16 miles of the 22 miles of transit pipeline it operates in the Prudhoe Bay field following a leak discovered last week. (AP Photo/Al Grillo) (Al Grillo - AP)

Recently, 19 senators and 66 House members separately urged Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne to reconsider offering leases in the Lake Teshekpuk area.

"Industry already has access to 87 percent of the Northeast area of the Reserve and providing them access to the remainder jeopardizes caribou and waterfowl populations and subsistence resources in one of the most important wetland complexes in the Arctic," the House letter says.

Interior's Bureau of Land Management said that in its upcoming lease offering it will limit the surface areas within the nearly 500,000 acres to protect geese molting and caribou calving areas. The restrictions apply to roads and drilling pads, but not to elevated 30-inch pipelines.

It is just such pipes that are the focus of BP Alaska's Prudhoe Bay problems, including a spill of 270,000 gallons of oil last March and another spill discovered recently, resulting in the shutdown of pipes BP's Prudhoe Bay production.

Edward Bovy, a spokesman for BLM-Alaska, said the agency's restrictions on surface activity are aimed to protect the environment, but that pipeline safety and integrity "are separate issues" and do not affect leasing decisions.

The Transportation Department's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration will regulate any pipelines extended into the NPRA lease areas. As a result of the BP pipe corrosion problems, the agency said it plans to strengthen federal requirements and standards for operating such pipelines in the coming months.

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On the Net:

Bureau of Land Management-Alaska: http://www.blm.gov/ak/npra.html