Posted on 01/31/2015 6:10:10 AM PST by thackney
Obama is only doing this to please his Saudi masters.
US President Dwight D. Eisenhower established ANWR in December 1960 as the 8.9 million-acre Arctic National Wildlife Range. In 1980, Congress passed and President Jimmy Carter signed the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA), which renamed it a wildlife refuge, enlarged it to 19 million acres, and designated 7 million acres of it as wilderness.
Management of its 1.5 million-acre coastal plain, which was set aside for possible future oil and gas development under ANILCA Section 1002, has been a recurring issue for decades. It represents about 8% of ANWR’s total acreage.
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Note the agreement during the Carter administration to greatly expand the refuge, was done with the agreement of setting the Coastal Plains aside for oil/gas exploration. One well was drilled, the results not released, and no more work was ever permitted.
Is there a high level of demand to drill there?
Ubama has more.... Flexibility to deal with this issue to help out his paymasters.
Regarding the local indigenous people, aka Eskimos: “The Arctic Slope Regional Corp., the Native regional corporation for the North Slope, expressed its opposition to the Fish and Wildlife decision. “The people of the Arctic Slope region, specifically Kaktovik, have thrived in this area for over 10,000 years”
Obama can solve this by sending in the US Army to collect up the Artic Slope folks and move them to reservations in the Mojhave desert or a similar place where they can continue their way of life.
{North Slope Borough} NSB DECRIES INTERIOR DEPARTMENT PLANS FOR ARCTIC NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE WILDERNESS
http://www.north-slope.org/news/detail/nsb-decries-interior-department-plans-for-arctic-national-wildlife-refuge-w
January 26, 2015
USFWS Plans for Wilderness Designation of 10-02 Violating ANILCA /NEPA
http://anwr.org/2015/01/usfws-plans-for-wilderness-designation-of-10-02-violating-anilca-nepa/
Jan 25, 2015
the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell announced today that it will pursue a recommendation for complete wilderness designation of ANWR. The Service has been studying its management practices under a Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP) of ANWR for more than 4 years and today announced its decision on one of 6 alternatives proposed. Variations of either no wilderness status quo, partial, or full wilderness were offered in the CCP. Wilderness designation equates to the most restrictive land use designation offered in the nation with no fly over, no use of any mechanized vehicle and limited foot access to an area. No resource development use of the area can take place. The designation flies in the face of the US Geological Survey’s review of the Coastal Plain of ANWR as the most prospective area on the North American continent to find a super-large oil and gas field. USGS estimated the “10-02” Coastal Plain to contain a mean average of 10.4bbls. of oil at a conservative 35% recovery rate.
The USFWS decision was met with strong opposition from Alaska’s Governor Walker, the Alaska State Legislature and the three Alaskan Congressional delegates, all whom are unanimous in their opposition to any wilderness designation in ANWR. All Alaskan elected officials at the state and federal level, including the government of the North Slope Borough, which includes ANWR in its territory, have been unanimous in their support of exploration on the Coastal Plain of ANWR for over 30 years. The current vote on the issue in Alaska’s state legislature is 60-0 in opposition to wilderness designation.
The USFWS CCP is a non-binding recommendation to Congress and does not actually declare wilderness land designation. Only Congress has the authority to declare wilderness. Congress has debated the issue for over 30 years and in 12 votes in the House and 3 votes in the Senate passed legislation in support of development and against wilderness designation. Only once did both bodies agree to the same pro-development bill in 1995 only to have it vetoed by President Clinton.
Further to fuel the fires against today’s USFWS decision is the Alaska National Interest Land Conservation Act (ANILCA -1980), which formed the modern border of ANWR. ANILCA contains a “no more clause” which stated no more than 5000 acres can be declared wilderness in the state without Congressional approval. The coastal plain of ANWR is 1.5million acres. The USFWS has claimed the 10-02 does not fall under the clause because by inclusion in ANWR it already takes the land out of public domain and thus is not applicable to ANILCA. The State claims the wording and intent of the law are plain and simple, no new wilderness. ANILCA states the coastal plain must be held in a state ready to be included as wilderness land should Congress decide not to allow exploration. Given the 15 successful votes by Congress in favor of development it should be clear the view is decidedly against wilderness designation.
The USFWS CCP decision on wilderness also violates the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in that any study or declaration of wilderness must consider all alternative land uses. The CCP deliberately leaves out oil and gas exploration as a potential land use which is ironic considering the definition of the Coastal Plain under ANILCA is an area set aside for the study of oil and gas exploration potential. The State has maintained this study was a breach of NEPA since it was first proposed in 2010.
It will now be up to the State of Alaska to challenge the CCP. The only other CCP completed on ANWR was in 1987 and in that the Dept. of Interior stated any impact on the land would be minimal and could be mitigated. The history of development in the Arctic even just 2 miles away from the 10-02 has shown that over 30 years the land has not suffered and the wildlife has flourished. The Central Arctic Caribou Herd that migrates through Prudhoe Bay oil field just next to ANWR has increased from 5000 animals in the 70s to over 50,000 today. No animal that uses the coastal plain affected by current development has shown a decline in population or significant impact effect. The State of Alaska has always maintained the highest environmental protections on land uses in the world and state that declaration of wilderness will do nothing to enhance the wildlife or ecology beyond what it already is, only restrict any land use of the area beyond reason or need. Given the status of the 10-02 Coastal Plain currently, which is completely off limits to any trespass or development without congressional or USFWS approval, it is hard to see why additional formal designation is needed nor what would be achieved by it. Rather this wilderness designation is merely a political policy objective of the current Administration and President against oil and gas development in the Arctic of Alaska.
Oil has made the world we live in possible.
Without cheap, plentiful oil we would be back living as people did 500 years ago.
Yet democrats and other leftists labor night and day to do away with oil.
The Alaska pipeline needs the oil to keep flowing....if the flow rate drops too low the entire pipeline gets shut down
so yes the they need additional sources of oil to keep the pipeline working.
In the next year, especially while American wells shut down due to the lower prices, I’m betting the EPA will begin to nationalize private oil production lands and regulate emissions to production impossibility, perhaps manage to shut down American oil production capability by half or more. The administration is allied with the Sauds in the endeavour to cut off American oil. The nation will be blessed with many more National Monuments and Parks.
Trust me my Alaskan relatives can give lesson to Barry here LOL!
I think safe to say even our Alaskan Freepers could school the President
We import ~7 million barrels a day of oil. The Alaska pipeline was designed to move over 2 million barrels a day but now only runs at about a quarter of that flow rate. Geology gives estimates between 4 to 11 billion barrels technically recoverable from the ANWR coastal plains based on decades old technology.
What Barack can do by fiat, a subsequent president can undo by fiat....
The governor should say that they will not go along with this and open all of Alaska to oil and gas and mining etc.
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