Interior department seeks expansion of protected areas in Alaska petroleum reserve

The US Department of the Interior is seeking public comment on expanding protected "special areas" in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, a 23-million-acre federal land tract on the western North Slope.

New land rules were adopted in April for the petroleum reserve by the Bureau of Land Management, which is part of the Interior department. The new rules give the agency authority to expand protected areas that would exclude oil and gas development, including in existing oil and gas leases.

ConocoPhillips' leases in its Willow oil and gas project now under construction appear not to be affected but it may be difficult for the company to develop other prospects near Willow, ConocoPhillips has said.

Eighty two of ConocoPhillips' 156 leases in the NPR-A are affected by Special Area designations.

There are 13.3 million acres within five special areas already designated in the NPR-A or about half of the total 23 million acres in the petroleum reserve. Under the new land rules, which are also being challenged in court, the BLM can enlarge these periodically.

"Building on the Biden-Harris administration's actions to conserve millions of acres of lands and waters in Alaska, the Request for Information solicits public comment on whether to initiate a process to consider adding additional protection measures, including by identifying additional significant resource values in existing Special Areas, expanding Special Areas, or creating new Special Areas within the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska," BLM said in an announcement July 12.

A Request for Information to be published in the Federal Register will begin a 60-day comment period after which BLM will decide on the expansion.

ConocoPhillips and Alaska Native groups including the North Slope Borough, the regional municipality, have filed lawsuits against the Interior Department seeking to block the new land rules. The plaintiffs contend the priority given environmental protection under BLM's new lands rules is contrary to the purpose of the petroleum reserve, to produce oil and gas, when it was originally created in 1923 and also stated in the National Petroleum Reserves Production Act of 1976, when Congress transferred the reserve from the US Navy to the Interior department.

However, the Interior department said the 1976 act also requires the government to balance petroleum development with wildlife and land protection with "maximum protection" given to protection, BLM said in its statement.

The agency also has a special responsibility to Indigenous groups in northern Alaska, BLM Director Tracy Stone-Manning said in the statement. "We have a responsibility to manage the western Arctic in way that honors the more than 40 Indigenous communities that continue to rely on the resources from the Reserve for subsistence."

"Tribal Nations rely on the resources from the petroleum reserve for subsistence, harvesting caribou, shore and waterbirds, and many other fish and wildlife species. Many other communities outside the NPR-A subsist primarily on food that rely on the Special Areas of the NPR-A," Stone-Manning said.

The Interior Department approved federal permits for development of ConocoPhillips' Willow project in a decision that prompted harsh criticism of the Biden administration by national conservation groups. In response, the administration said it would also seek additional protections in the reserve, which it did in the land rules adopted in April.

Willow is now under construction and is expected to begin producing in 2029 with a peak rate of 180,000 b/d.