Alaska congressional delegation supports plan for National Petroleum Reserves

The Congressional delegation from Alaska all voiced their support for the Bureau of Land Management’s draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the activity plan proposed for the National Petroleum Reserves in Alaska.

The Bureau of Land Management administers the National Petroleum Reserves in Alaska (NPR-A) under the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act. It covers more than 23 million acres on the western North Slope of Alaska.

“This is a significant step toward a new plan that is more consistent with the legal purposes of the petroleum reserve, which holds the potential for billions of barrels of recoverable oil that can help refill the Trans-Alaska Pipeline,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said. “We have recently learned a great deal about the abundant resources of the NPR-A and updating the deeply flawed 2013 IAP to provide greater access is necessary to reflect our opportunities for responsible development. We will review the draft EIS closely and encourage Alaskans to provide comments and participate in the public process.”

The EIS kicks off a 60-day public comment period on the plan that end Jan. 21, 2020.

“Today’s announcement is welcome progress towards evaluating how to best realize the potential of Alaska’s vast energy resources,” Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) said. “The previous administration was dead set on locking up the NPR-A, which, in turn, stunted our economy. The Department of Interior’s efforts to provide a new activity plan furthers our goal of responsible exploration and development, ensuring that Alaska’s resources help the U.S. remain an energy superpower. I encourage Alaskans to share their views throughout the comment period.”

In 2013, the Obama administration issued an activity plan that withdrew roughly half of the reserve from energy development. In 2017, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated that the reserves contain an estimated 8.7 billion barrels of undiscovered oil.

“An updated NPR-A Integrated Activity Plan is not only good news for Alaska but is an encouraging development for our continued push to make America truly energy independent,” U.S. Rep. Don Young said. “The resources available in the NPR-A are vast, and very frankly, the Obama Administration’s 2013 IAP was an overly-restrictive disaster for Alaskans who know our lands can be responsibly developed. I look forward to reviewing the newly-published EIS and continuing my work with the Delegation and the Administration to ensure that Alaska’s resources can be utilized to meet the energy needs across our great nation.”