Post on 27-Dec-2015
BLM-Alaska OverviewBud C. Cribley
BLM-Alaska State DirectorWestern Interstate Region
Board of Directors MeetingMay 21, 2014
At 586,400 square miles (365 million acres), Alaska is larger than these eastern states combined
Alaska-Lower 48 Size Comparison
Field Offices in Alaska
BoundariesBLM
Jurisdictional
BLM-Alaska Programs• Monitoring
• Permitting
• Restoration
• National Landscape Conservation System
• Management of public land records
•Mining
BLM-Alaska Programs• Programs Unique to Alaska:⎻Land Conveyance & Survey⎻Subsistence⎻Alaska Fire Service⎻National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska⎻Trans-Alaska Pipeline Oversight
Land Conveyance & Survey Program
• BLM’s largest land transfer program – 150 million acres
• Conveyed area size of CA to State of Alaska
• Area roughly size of State of Washington to Native Corps
BLM OversightTrans-Alaska Pipeline
Trans-Alaska Pipeline/utility corridor
• Oversees and monitors one of the largest, longest pipelines in world
• 48-inch diameter, 800 miles long
NPR-A• 22.8 million acres
• Largest contiguous block of federally managed land in US
• Roughly size of Indiana
• High profile – oil reserve, rich environmental landscape
NPR-A
Legacy Wells
Natural oil seeps near Simpson Core Test #31
NPR-A
NPR-A
NPR-A
NPR-A
National Issues
• Hydraulic Fracturing Rule
• Venting and Flaring
• Mitigation
• Fire
• Sage Grouse
Hydraulic Fracturing Rule• After dozens of meetings, thousands
of comments, new path forward⎻ More than a million comments received
• About 90% of wells on federal and Indian land fracked nationwide
• Proposed rule:⎻ Updated regs⎻ Establish baseline environmental safeguards⎻ Requires public disclosure of chemicals used⎻ Improves assurances of wellbore integrity⎻ Requires water mgmt plans
Venting and Flaring• Capturing natural gas from oil & gas
projects⎻ Reduce greenhouse gas⎻ Capture for productive use, economics (GAO estimated
$2 million lost per year in royalties)
• New rulemaking needed - regs date back to 1979
• DOI and BLM reaching out now to state and tribal governments, others for input on new regs
• New regs would establish appropriate standards to prevent waste and promote conservation of produced oil & gas
Mitigation• BLM’s new approach to mitigation for
renewable energy development – landscape perspective
• Regional approach:⎻ Identify priority opportunities across landscapes⎻ Achieve highest mitigation benefit
• Released draft Regional Mitigation manual section last June – interim policy guiding mitigation planning for land use authorizations
Fire• Fire season severity has increased:
⎻ Decreased snow pack⎻ Increased temperatures⎻ Longer droughts
• Longer fire seasons, bigger fires (doubled in acreage over last 3 decades)
• 2014 Budget (CR) - $36 million to DOI for fire suppression
• 2015 Admin budget proposal – special disaster relief cap adjustment for use when firefighting costs exceed budgets
Greater Sage Grouse Planning
• March 2010 – FWS “warranted but precluded” finding
• BLM’s Planning Strategy – complete land use plans by end of 2014, give FWS time to evaluate before court-ordered final listing decision in 2015
• In effort to prevent listing, BLM evaluating SG conservation across 68 planning areas
• Stakes are high – hundreds of thousands of sqare miles of sagebrush habitat throughout West
Greater Sage Grouse Impacts
• Impacts to Energy development, Recreation, Livestock grazing, Fire management
• Proactive approach with Forest Service to maintain wide range of options, reduce regulatory burdens
• Ultimate goal to eliminate need to list
• Appreciate the work of many of you here as we implement conservation measures into plans
• Strong partnerships with counties, states, including Western Gov’s Task Force
Questions?