Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM), in a plan released Friday, said it would make available land for leasing in the Northeast portion of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) that could yield nearly three billion barrels of crude oil and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas for North American markets through gas pipelines that are currently in the planning stages.

The BLM, however, opted against opening 219,000 acres of Teshekpuk Lake and its islands to oil and gas leasing, according to the preferred alternative chosen by the agency in its Supplemental Final Integrated Activity Plan/Environmental Impact Statement (IAP/EIS). The plan’s preferred alternative also would defer leasing for 10 years on 430,000 acres north and east of Teshekpuk Lake that currently are unavailable for leasing.

“This plan provides a balanced approach to energy development and wildlife protection, and forms a solid basis for the Bureau of Land Management to proceed with an oil and gas lease sale later this year,” said Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne. The BLM said it expects to hold a lease sale this fall for the available Northeast portions of the NPR-A, as well as portions of the Northwest planning area.

North Slope Borough Mayor Edward Itta expressed support for the plan’s decision to defer acreage near Teshekpuk Lake. “The lease sale can proceed while one of the region’s most sensitive wildlife habitats will be protected,” he said.

The supplemental final plan for the Northeast NPR-A updates information in the 2005 Northeast NPR-A amended EIS. The BLM began developing the supplement in December 2005 after a federal district court in Alaska ruled that the 2005 Northeast NPR-A amended IAP/EIS failed to adequately address cumulative impacts. A notice announcing the release of the plan will be published in the Federal Register later this month, according to the BLM. The agency said it expects to issue a record of decision by mid-summer.

Interested parties can find the Supplemental Final IAP/EIS on BLM-Alaska’s website, www.blm.gov/ak.

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