I think of Naval Petroeum Reserve #4 on the north slope of Alaska. Established in 1923, long before any commercial exploitation.
Now it is called the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPRA).
I was actually part of the design team for the first production oil wells for NPRA. The project was delayed for so many years I left Alaska before it began construction. Construction has begun but is still tied up in lawsuits.
With CD-5 half-built, judge faults Corps permit
http://www.alaskajournal.com/Alaska-Journal-of-Commerce/June-Issue-2-2014/With-CD-5-half-built-judge-faults-Corps-permit/
2014.06.05
A U.S. Alaska District Court judge has ruled that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers did not provide an adequate rationale for its decision to allow ConocoPhillips to proceed with road and bridge construction at its $1 billion CD-5 project in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.
The ruling by Judge Sharon Gleason issued May 27 did not suggest a remedy for the decision and asked for briefings from the plaintiffs and defendants on how to proceed. She did not require the preparation of a supplemental environmental impact statement or issue an injunction that would stop construction now underway at CD-5.
The bridge and roads, meanwhile, are about half-built. CD-5 is scheduled to begin production in late 2015.
In March, Gleason denied plaintiffs’ request for an injunction to stop construction at CD-5, finding that, “based on the Court’s determination that the balance of the equities was then tipped sharply in favor of ConocoPhillips and the other Intervenor-Defendants and that a preliminary injunction would not be in the public interest. The March 2014 Order did not address the Kunaknana Plaintiffs’ likelihood of success on the merits.”
Gleason also tossed a lawsuit filed separately by Center for Biological Diversity, finding that the Outside environmental group lacked standing in the case.
The other plaintiff is Sam Kunaknana, who is represented by environmental law firm Trustees for Alaska. The CBD and Kunaknana cases had previously been merged by Gleason.
Gleason made no decision on the plaintiffs’ Clean Water Act claims.
The Corps of Engineers was joined in its defense by Arctic Slope Regional Corp., the North Slope Borough, Kuupik Corp. and the State of Alaska.
Kuupik owns the surface rights at the proposed CD-5; ASRC owns the subsurface rights.