Sen. Murkowski Welcomes Changes To Alpine EIS/Development
Says They Should Protect Subsistence While Producing More Oil
Anchorage, AK - U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski welcomed a series of changes made to the proposed development plan for five satellite oil fields surrounding the Alpine oil field on Alaska's North Slope, saying the changes will protect the environment and key subsistence hunting interests, while helping Alaska produce another 330 million barrels of oil from the area.
Murkowski was reacting to changes in a proposed development plan for the Alpine Satellite fields required by the federal Bureau of Land Management as they issued a final Environmental Impact Statement for the oil field expansion proposed by ConocoPhillips Alaska. Inc. The changes include relocating portions of the proposed gravel access road and pipelines to outside of a three-mile setback to protect Fish Creek, raising the heights of elevated pipelines by two feet to a total of seven feet to allow migrating caribou to easily pass underneath the pipes and requiring that power lines be mounted on the pipeline rather than on additional poles.
"The major concern to development of these fields was that the pipelines needed to connect them to Alpine would hamper caribou migration in the area, harming the subsistence hunting for the villagers of Nuiqsut. These changes should address these concerns by making it easier for caribou to migrate through the area while also protecting the Fish Creek corridor.
"These changes show that oil development can be compatible with good environmental stewardship," said Murkowski. She said the 330 million barrels of oil that the five new platforms should produce will help both the state and nation reduce its dangerous dependence on foreign oil sources.
The new satellite oil reservoirs are located in the Northeast corner of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and in the Colville River Delta.