Alaska Delegation Reiterates Strong Opposition to NPR-A ‘Special Areas’ Process

Alaska Delegation Reiterates Strong Opposition to NPR-A 'Special Areas' Process

Washington, DC - U.S. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan (both R-AK) and Representative Mary Sattler Peltola (D-AK) reiterated their opposition to the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) latest efforts to further restrict resource development across the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A). In a letter sent Monday, the delegation voiced strong opposition to BLM's request for information (RFI), the precursor to an arbitrary, deliberately opaque process to expand and create new Special Areas in the NPR-A.

BLM issued the RFI earlier this year, just after unilaterally restricting leasing and development on more than half the surface acreage of the 23-million-acre petroleum reserve. The agency continues to refuse to properly consult with and reflect opposition from Alaska Native communities on the North Slope in decisions that affect their lands and interests.

"We write to reiterate our strong opposition to (RFI), "Special Areas Within the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska" published in the Federal Register by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on July 17, 2024. As discussed in prior letters to BLM, the administration's decision to impose restrictions on a variety of activities across the (NPR-A) is unprecedented and unlawful. As such, we urge BLM to abandon any effort to unilaterally expand Special Areas in the NPR-A," the delegation wrote.

"BLM must recognize that the management regime it now envisions for the NPR-A blatantly conflicts with federal law, particularly in light of the Supreme Court's decision in Loper Bright. Congress has directed BLM to carry out an 'expeditious program of competitive leasing of oil and gas' in Alaska's petroleum reserve, yet BLM has arbitrarily reinterpreted the statute to focus on an expeditious program of new administrative barriers that will restrict or prohibit responsible resource development. In this case, BLM unilaterally wrote a rule that restricts access to more than half of the surface acreage of the NPR-A and is now using the authorities granted to itself under that rule to justify further processes that will inevitably result in further restrictions. It is simply not believable for BLM to claim that it is meeting congressional intent, given that no new lease sale has been carried out in the NPR-A since 2019. The agency instead continues to depart from the law to reduce access across the petroleum reserve, with the RFI process for Special Areas serving as the latest effort to convert millions of acres within a federal petroleum reserve into de facto federal wilderness."

"BLM's actions are simply not a reasonable interpretation of federal law, let alone the best interpretation of federal law, as the agency has dramatically upended its management mission in the NPR-A from one led by responsible resource development to one defined by relentless conservation. We therefore request that BLM immediately abandon the RFI process. BLM should have allowed the courts to review and make a decision on the multiple challenges to the final rule before issuing the RFI and used the next IAP process to decide the future of Special Areas within the NPR-A. The process by which BLM is undertaking the RFI is not transparent, will hide relevant information from policymakers and the public, and any decisions based on it will be unilaterally made behind closed doors without a true public process."

The NPR-A Working Group, which provides the forum for North Slope communities to provide meaningful, regular input to BLM's on-going management decisions and proposed activities in NPR-A, as well as the Voice of the Arctic Iñupiat, a nonprofit that serves as a unifying voice for communities on the North Slope of Alaska, passed resolutions opposing BLM's RFI. The City of Utqia?vik, City of Atqasuk, Nunamiut Corporation, Atqasuk Corporation, Native Village of Atqasuk, and the North Slope Regional Trilateral (Iñupiat Community of the Arctic Slope, North Slope Borough, Arctic Slope Regional Corporation) all submitted letters and comments opposing BLM's RFI process and protesting the expansion and creation of new Special Areas in the NPR-A.

To read the delegation's full letter, click here.