South NPR-A plan to consider mining impacts

At an Anchorage scoping meeting on Aug. 16, Bob Schneider, manager of BLM's Fairbanks District Office, invited public comments on the criteria for bureau's planning effort for the southern portion of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. As part of the south NPR-A plan the Bureau of Land Management intends to assess the potential for hard rock mining and coal leasing, and the possible impacts of these activities, Schneider said.

In recent years BLM has issued land use and activity plans for northeast and northwest NPR-A and has just started preparing the plan for south NPR-A. The agency is holding a series of public meetings to gather comments on the scope of the plan and to identify issues that need to be considered as part of the planning process. BLM doesn't expect to complete the plan until 2009.

Rich mineral resources

The planning area includes much of the Brooks Range foothills and part of the Brooks Range itself. The southern part of the area is thought to contain rich mineral resources, including lead, zinc, phosphates and barite.

"We want to know whether or not there's public interest in making areas available for hard rock mining in the National Petroleum Reserve in the south planning area," Schneider said.

Schneider also said that BLM wants to find out if there is interest in making portions of the area available for coal leasing - 100 to 300-foot coal seams are known to exist in the more northerly part of the area.

"NPR-A is thought to contain about 40 percent of the nation's coal reserves," Schneider said.

The area also exhibits significant oil and gas potential.

Currently prohibited

The Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act of 1976 prohibits mining activities within NPR-A. So, opening the reserve for mining activities would require legislative action by the U.S. Congress. That doesn't preclude BLM assessing the potential for mining, Schneider said.

"The plan may analyze alternatives that would consider recommendations for opening some acreage to either hard rock mining or coal leasing," he said.

However, some people attending the Anchorage meeting questioned the point of including mining within the plan, when mining activities are currently prohibited. Some also cautioned about the potential scale of mining impacts resulting from infrastructure requirements such as roads, railroads or ports.

Others, however, stated an essential need for natural resource development in the area and viewed the BLM plan as a step towards recommending that Congress remove mining and coal leasing restrictions - people need the resources and resource development would contribute to the local economy.

Wild and Scenic River recommendations

BLM also plans to "consider eligible rivers within the planning area for inclusion in the Wild and Scenic River System," although actual designation within the system would require U.S. Congressional action. But some meeting attendees questioned even the possibility of such designations, saying that the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act of 1980 included a clause stating that there would be no more land withdrawals in the state. However, Schneider said that as part of the south NPR-A plan BLM wants to determine whether rivers such as the Colville River would or would not need to be in the Wild and Scenic River System for successful management and protection.

However, concurrent with the development of the south NPR-A plan, BLM will be developing a separate Colville River Management Plan to address management issues for the river in all of the NPR-A planning areas. This Colville River plan will deal with issues that include recreational and subsistence use of the river; the plan should be completed within six months of completion of the south NPR-A plan, Schneider said.

Wildlife habitats

The south NPR-A planning area does include some critical wildlife habitats, especially for the western Arctic caribou herd in the uplands of the area and for raptors along the Colville River.

Several meeting attendees expressed support for the need to protect wildlife in the area and some people emphasized the need to consider the cumulative effects of any development, especially in places and communities outside the planning area. For example, the transportation of resources extracted from the area would probably require pipelines or roads extending well beyond the boundaries of the reserve.

Schneider noted that BLM has invited the North Slope Borough to become a cooperating agency, to participate in plan development.

Other issues raised at the meeting included the need for more geological knowledge of the area and the need for technical innovation for resource development in an area that is relatively dry and lacks plentiful supplies of gravel.

Although the public scoping period for the south NPR-A plan was originally scheduled to end in August, BLM has extended the period to Oct. 17. The revised schedule includes scoping meetings in several northern Alaska communities and an additional meeting in Anchorage on Sept. 20. Information about the plan and the scoping meetings can be obtained from BLM's Alaska state office at 907 271-5960.