NPR-A

The Obama administration recently unilaterally decided to ban oil and natural gas exploration in half of the 23.6 million acre National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska – posing a serious threat to the economic health of the state. The proposed land management plan endangers not only further exploration within the NPR-A, but also development of existing offshore leases in the Chukchi Sea since it would most likely make a pipeline connection with the trans-Alaska oil pipeline system impractical if not impossible.

Senator Murkowski has strenuously objected to the proposed management plan because the whole purpose of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska is to provide petroleum to the United States to ensure the nation’s energy security.  It is not a wildlife refuge, which is how the administration is treating it.

The Obama administration’s decision therefore violates both the petroleum reserve’s authorizing statute as well as the law forbidding additional land withdrawals in Alaska without the express approval of Congress.

If this decision is allowed to stand it could seriously endanger Alaska's future. Looking at a map of northern Alaska it’s clear to see the risk to the state. The northeastern corner is already locked up in ANWR. Now a large swath of the northwestern corner is being taken off the table. That leaves Prudhoe Bay, which is on state-owned land, in the middle. Unfortunately, after providing as much as 20 percent of the nation's oil for the last three decades, Prudhoe Bay is running out of easy oil. Without new sources of oil, the trans-Alaska oil pipeline (TAPS) will continue to lose throughput and could be shut down in the not so distant future.

Senator Murkowski has already agreed to a moratorium on drilling around Teshekpuk Lake to protect the migratory birds nesting area. But the administration’s new management plan goes way beyond what is necessary to protect the nesting grounds. The Senator believes this is a unilateral decision by the administration to create de-facto wilderness without any input from Congress or the state of Alaska.

This decision denies U.S. taxpayers both revenue and jobs at a time when the nation faces record debt and chronic unemployment.

NPR-A is 23.6 million acres - roughly the size of the state of Indiana - with an estimated 900 million barrels of oil and 53 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in undiscovered resources, according to USGS.