Tests for Oil in Arctic Refuge Won't Happen This Winter, Officials Say [View all]
A plan to conduct seismic testing for oil and gas exploration across a large swath of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska has been shelved for this winter, Interior Department officials have said.
The announcement signals at least a temporary victory for environmental groups and scientists who oppose the project, in which large trucks and other heavy equipment would crisscross the refuge’s coastal plain along the Arctic Ocean, using acoustic signals to map underground rock formations that may hold oil and gas reserves.
Steve Wackowski, the department’s senior adviser for Alaska affairs, made the announcement at a hearing Tuesday in Kaktovik, a village within the refuge.
Faith Vander Voort, a department spokeswoman, said the seismic proposal was still pending, and that the company behind it, SAExploration, had asked that the start date be moved to next December.
The postponement will have no direct impact on the Interior Department’s plan to open the coastal plain, 1.5 million acres known as the 1002 Area, to oil and gas development. The department, through the Bureau of Land Management, has said it wants to offer leases for sale this year.
The coastal plain is thought to overlie formations containing billions of barrels of oil, and the Trump administration has been eager to allow development, part of its push for more commercial activities on federal lands.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/07/climate/seismic-testing-anwr-alaska.html
Truck tracks from seismic testing decades ago are visible through the snow in the 1002 Area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Credit: Katie Orlinsky for The New York Times
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