[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 152 (Friday, August 7, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 42431-42432]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-20722]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Bureau of Land Management
[AK-931-1310-00-NPRA]


Northeast National Petroleum Reserve--Alaska Final Integrated 
Activity Plan/Environmental Impact Statement

AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of Availability.

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SUMMARY: The Bureau of Land Management announces the availability of 
the Northeast National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska Final Integrated 
Activity Plan/Environmental Impact Statement (IAP/EIS). The planning 
area is roughly bounded by the Colville River to the east and south, 
the Ikpikpuk River to the west and the Beaufort Sea to the north. The 
IAP/EIS contains a Preferred Alternative and five non-preferred 
alternatives for a land management plan for the 4.6 million-acre 
planning area and assessments of each alternative's impacts on the 
surface resources present there. These alternatives provide varying 
answers to two primary questions. First, what protections and 
enhancements will be implemented for natural and cultural resources and 
the activities that are based on these resources? Second, will the BLM 
conduct oil and gas lease sales in the planning area and, if so, what 
lands will be made available for leasing?
    Under the Preferred Alternative leasing would be allowed in 87 
percent of the planning area. Protection to habitats important to 
molting geese and the Teshekpuk Lake caribou herd would be provided by 
making them unavailable for leasing or by strict restrictions on oil 
and gas surface occupancy. In addition, surface use restrictions and 
other stipulations are applied to other habitats with high surface 
resource values. Included are important subsistence use areas such as 
Fish Creek, Judy Creek, and the Ikpikpuk and Miguakiak Rivers. Similar 
restrictions and stipulations are applied to the Colville, Kikiakrorak 
and Kogosukruk Rivers to protect raptor nesting and subsistence. The 
Secretary of the Interior is authorized to identify specific lands in 
the NPR-A as ``Special Areas,'' and the two previously designated 
Special Areas within the planning area will expand under the Preferred 
Alternative. Some land along the Kikiakrorak and Kogosukruk Rivers will 
be added to the Colville River Special Area and the Pik Dunes will be 
added to the Teshekpuk Lake Special area. The BLM is also proposing 
that it work with nearby Colville River land owners, including the 
State and Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, to create a Bird 
Conservation Area along part of the river under the Partners in Flight 
Program. The BLM will create a subsistence advisory panel to assist in 
addressing subsistence-related issues that arise in managing a leasing 
program in the study area. The stipulations included within the 
Preferred Alternative are modestly revised based on public comment, 
from those presented in the draft IAP/EIS for alternatives B-E. A close 
reading of these stipulations is necessary to fully understand the 
protections to key natural and subsistence resources provided by the 
Preferred Alternative.
    Alternative A calls for no action, or no change from the status 
quo, and under it no leasing would occur. Alternatives B through E make 
progressively more land, and more environmentally sensitive land, 
available to possible leasing. Alternative B makes 52 percent of the 
planning area available, Alternative C makes 72 percent available, 
Alternative D makes 90 percent available and Alternative E makes the 
entire planning area available. Restrictive stipulations would provide 
protections for natural and cultural resources under all alternatives, 
but their number and scope would vary between alternatives.
    Alternative A contains the fewest stipulations because it 
authorizes the fewest activities and entirely precludes leasing. As 
alternatives B through E make progressively more sensitive lands 
available for leasing, they also include increasing numbers of 
protective stipulations. Thus, while Alternative E opens the entire 
planning area to leasing it also has many specific stipulations whose 
intent is to ensure that sensitive natural resources are protected.
    All non-preferred alternatives except Alternative A recommend that 
the Pik

[[Page 42432]]

Dunes be added to the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area and that the Ikpikpuk 
River be designated as a Special Area for its paleontological values.
    Under various non-preferred alternatives, the BLM would recommend 
that Congress designate the Colville River a wild, scenic, or 
recreation river under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act.

ADDRESSES: Comments on the final IAP/EIS will be accepted for a period 
of 30 days and must be postmarked no latter than September 8, 1998. 
Written comments on the document should be addressed to: NPR-A Planning 
Team, Bureau of Land Management, Alaska State Office (930), 222 West 
7th Avenue, #13, Anchorage, Alaska 99513-7599. Comments can also be 
sent to the NPR-A website (http;//aurora.ak.blm.gov/npra/) or to Jim 
Ducker at [email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gene Terland (907-271-3344; 
[email protected]) or Jim Ducker (907-271-3369; [email protected]). 
They can be reached by mail at the Bureau of Land Management (930), 
Alaska State Office, 222 West 7th Avenue, #13, Anchorage Alaska 99513-
7599.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Authority for developing this document is 
derived from the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, the Naval 
Petroleum Reserves Production Act of 1976, as amended, the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and the Alaska National Interest Lands 
Conservation Act (ANILCA).
    The BLM leased tracts in the NPR-A in 1982 and 1983 (all now 
expired), but halted a lease sale in 1984 when no acceptable bids were 
made. Recently, interest in a lease sale has increased as oil and gas 
infrastructure moved west. Soon a development at the Alpine Field, in 
the Colville River delta, will bring a pipeline to within 10 miles of 
the eastern boundary of the planning area. None of the federal lands in 
the planning area are currently available to oil and gas leasing 
because existing NEPA documentation is dated and inadequate to meet 
current standards. Should the BLM undertake a leasing program, this 
IAP/EIS will form the basic NEPA documentation to authorize leasing, 
and it will determine those lands that are available and those that are 
unavailable for leasing.
    The preferred alternative presented in the document is a variation 
on the alternatives presented in the draft IAP/EIS, but all the actions 
it proposes fall within the range of actions considered by the non-
preferred alternatives presented there. Public comments on the draft 
alternatives helped guide the selection of the Preferred Alternative.
    Public participation has occurred throughout the period since the 
Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement was 
published on February 13, 1997. In addition to holding scoping meetings 
in Nuiqsit, Atqasuk, Barrow, Fairbanks and Anchorage several publicly 
attended workshops have addressed important issues within the planning 
area. The planning area provides particularly important habitat for 
caribou, waterfowl and other species and many of the local residents of 
the area rely on harvesting these resources for subsistence purposes. 
Ensuring adequate protection of these resources has been one of the 
driving forces behind workshops to seek input from a variety of public 
sources with expertise in related fields. Information from these 
workshops has also been helpful in developing this document.
    Section 810 of the Alaska National Lands Conservation Act requires 
the BLM to evaluate the effects of the alternative plans presented in 
this IAP/EIS on subsistence activities in the planning area, and to 
hold public hearings if it finds that any alternative might 
significantly restrict subsistence activities. Appendix D of the 
document indicates that alternatives D and E meet the ``may 
significantly restrict'' threshold and, when the cumulative case is 
considered, all alternatives discussed in the document meet the 
threshold. The findings required by Section 810 of ANILCA are also 
included in this IAP/EIS. Public meetings were held during January in 
five North Slope villages, and in Fairbanks; Anchorage; Washington, DC; 
and San Francisco. In April, a public hearing on subsistence was held 
in Bethel, Alaska.
    The BLM has worked very closely with the North Slope Borough and 
the State of Alaska in developing this IAP/EIS. The Mineral Management 
Service of the Department of the Interior assisted the BLM in 
developing the document.
    Copies of the final IAP/EIS will be available in public libraries 
throughout the State of Alaska.

    Dated: July 29, 1998.
Sally Wisely,
Associate State Director.
[FR Doc. 98-20722 Filed 8-6-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-JA-P