Report: Potus Will Try And Fast Track Arctic Drilling Plans Without Environmental Review

As President Donald Trump’s administration continues its quest to drill on Alaska land and offshore, a joint report from the High Country News and Public Domain says the Department of the Interior will seek to skip the environmental review process and fast-track the process. Here are a few details:

Now, according to two sources familiar with the process and documents reviewed by High Country News and Public Domain, Trump and his team are following through on their promise to fast-track drilling in the NPRA by allowing new winter exploration and drilling to move forward without any kind of environmental review. The Department of the Interior is set to publish a “categorical exclusion” to the National Environmental Policy Act that would make it easier for the oil and gas industry to conduct seismic surveys, obtain rights of way and drill new exploration wells in the NPRA, an area that has become increasingly attractive to industry.

Seismic surveys, which are done with massive vibroseis trucks that weigh over 15 tons, can scar tundra and disturb wildlife, including female polar bears that den along the coastal region of the North Slope in winter and whose numbers have declined over the last two decades. Drilling and related infrastructure are also highly intrusive and, according to recent U.S. Geological Survey studies, have altered caribou behavior and Arctic migration patterns. The impacts of oil and gas development have been further complicated by rapidly warming conditions in the region, particularly thawing permafrost, which must be taken into account when operating on the North Slope.

Reaction is already coming out, including this statement from Arc Initiatives, which represents Graandmothers Growing Goodness and other Alaska Native interests:

Grandmothers Growing Goodness Responds to Trump Admin’s Expected Categorical Exclusion to Fast-Track Oil and Gas Infrastructure in the Western Arctic 

(Nuiqsuit, Alaska) — Reporting by High Country News and Public Domain reveals that the Trump administration is “set to publish a categorical exclusion to the National Environmental Policy Act in order to make it easier for the oil and gas industry to conduct seismic surveys, obtain rights of way, and drill new exploration wells in the NPR-A.” 

The administration is claiming that the legal basis for the exclusion is that proposed activities would have “no significant impact” on the environment – ignoring scientific evidence that found seismic testing would cause long-lasting damage to the tundra and permafrost. There has been no public comment period or engagement with the local community for this. 

Later this year, companies plan to begin conducting seismic testing – the industrial process of running heavy equipment across the Arctic tundra to map what lies beneath for drilling. Seismic testing causes lasting physical damage to delicate tundra and permafrost, disrupts caribou migration corridors and polar bear denning areas, and opens the door to full-scale industrial development.

Below is a statement from Rosemary Ahtuangaruak, Executive Director of Grandmothers Growing Goodness, in response: 

“Once again, the Trump administration is moving forward with a catastrophic proposal without consulting or considering the communities who will bear its consequences. In the past, we have worked directly with the government to prevent the worst impacts of oil and gas development in the Western Arctic. This new categorical exclusion shuts us out of the process, silencing the people who know the land best and puts our way of life – and future generations – at risk just to serve corporate greed.” 

This new categorical exclusion is advancing at the same time as a rulemaking requested by the Alaska Oil and Gas Association to streamline permitting for oil and gas infrastructure in the NPR-A. Similar in outcome, this rulemaking would rubber-stamp nearly all development and production in the region, while the categorical exclusion would permit exploration and seismic testing. Both would fundamentally change how oil and gas projects are approved and what environmental and public health review would look like going forward in the Western Arctic.