Obama Closes 50 Percent Of The Naval Petroleum Reserve In Alaska

In 1923, President Warren Harding established the 23 million acre Naval Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) for the U.S. Navy at a time when it was converting its coal-fired ships to run on petroleum. In 1976, this Indiana-sized area was turned over to the Department of Interior and in 1980, the Bureau of Land Management was given authority to manage oil leasing on the lands. In December 2011, the Obama Administration provided 3 million acres for lease and intends to provide a total of 11.8 million acres in the NPR-A to future leasing. But, the administration’s plan only allows about half of the NPR-A to be available to new oil development.

The Department of Interior plan takes the coastal regions, such as Kasegaluk Lagoon and Peard Bay, off the market for future leasing, claiming leasing might harm local wildlife.[ia]According to the U.S. Geological Survey’s estimates, the entire reserve holds about 900 million barrels of oil, but only 549 million barrels are to be offered for lease.[ii] Thus, the plan not only decreases access to prospective areas, but also closes off lands with highly prospective oil potential in the name of wildlife conservation, despite decades of experience in which there are increased numbers of wildlife in Alaska where oil and gas development has already occurred.

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