BLM at work on revised Environmental Impact Statement on ANWR

The U.S. Department of the Interior is at work on a revised Environmental Impact Statement for oil and gas leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR.

U.S. Bureau of Land Management spokesperson Lesli Ellis-Wouters said that BLM has completed the initial “scoping” work on a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, or SEIS, for leasing in the refuge.

Scoping is the first step in an Environmental Impact Statement and is intended to identify issues of concern based on public comments.

Interior Secretary Deb Haas had said a flawed environmental impact statement for the lease sale was done by the Trump administration.

The review by BLM under way now, and a new SEIS, is to correct deficiencies. A new environmental review will likely affect a second lease sale planned in 2024, but its findings will likely influence BLM decisions on leases sold in first lease sale last January under former President Donald Trump.

Under the federal tax act of 2017 the Interior Department is required to hold two lease sales in the coastal plain of the Arctic refuge. BLM was given the responsibility for carrying out the leasing program.

The first lease sale held in January is to be followed by a second in December 2024, Ellis-Wouters said.

BLM anticipates the scoping report, based on public comments, is to be completed by December. A draft SEIS is to be done in June, 2022 and the final SEIS document in April 2023, she said.

This will be followed by a final Record of Decision in June 2023 under the current schedule, Ellis-Wouters said.

Meanwhile, Interior Secretary Haas has ordered that BLM regulatory actions be suspended on leases that were issued as the new environmental review is conducted, although the leases have not been canceled.

Nine leases were bid on and sold in the first lease sale. Seven of those were to a state of Alaska agency, the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, and two leases were issued to small private companies.

BLM had initially put 1.5 million acres of the coastal plain up for bid but then withdrew approximately 475,000 acres in 10 tracts from the sale, Ellis-Wouters said. “This was after receiving substantive input from Alaska Native tribes, nongovernmental organizations, and the Canadian government,” she said.

The withdrawn acreage was in the southern and eastern portion of the 1.5 million acres were offered but that are also important for caribou calving.

The remaining acreage offered, about 1 million acres, was in the central and western parts of the refuge’s coastal plain in areas ranked by geologists to have high potential. The lands were also near State of Alaska lands where oil and gas discoveries have been made.

Despite the potential for discoveries the January sale attracted no bids from major oil and gas companies. That was likely due to political controversy over leasing in the refuge. Opposition to leasing had also been voiced by Joe Biden, president-elect at the time of the lease sale, which is likely also to have depressed bidding.

When the January lease sale was held the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, or AIDEA, the state development corporation, bid on tracts with the intent of negotiating exploration agreements with companies. AIDEA bid on seven tracts and was awarded the leases.

There were no competing bids. AIDEA is now preparing an application to do winter seismic exploration in the area to assess the potential, said Alan Weitzner, the agency’s director.

One private company bid came from Australia-based independent 88 Energy, which is exploring in several parts of the North Slope. A second private bid was from a small Anchorage-based investment company.