The Bureau of Land Management announced on Friday, May 16, that it is opening lands in the northeast portion of the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska for oil and gas development.

In addition, the borough announced it would leave 219,000 acres of Teshekpuk Lake and its islands closed to oil and gas leasing and deferred leasing for 10 years on 430,000 acres north and east of the lake.

“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 Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne in a statement.

Lease sales will likely be held this fall, according to the agency. They estimate the area could yield trillions of cubic feet of natural gas and nearly 3 billion barrels of oil, equaling one quarter of the oil produced over the last 31 years by the oilfield in Prudhoe Bay.

“BLM listened to local communities and it made the plan better,” said North Slope Borough mayor Edward Itta in a statement released by the agency.

“The lease sale can proceed while one of the region’s most sensitive wildlife habitats will be protected. It’s a win-win.”

Stanly Senner, vice president and executive director of Audubon Alaska, said the move by BLM was a step in the right direction but does not completely satisfy those parties pushing for complete closure of the area around Teshekpuk Lake.

“A balanced approach to oil and gas in the larger NPRA must include protection for the Teshekpuk wetlands, and this a step in that direction,” he said.

“We are disappointed that BLM is not simply recommending closure of the areas around Teshekpuk Lake and instead is just deferring the leases. But it is still a very significant step towards what I hope will be permanent protection of that area,” he said.

Teshekpuk Lake is an area of critical habitat for caribou and many species of migratory birds that are part of the subsistence diet of the North Slope Inupiat.

BLM-Alaska State Director Tom Lonnie said the North Slope Borough’s collaboration is instrumental to helping the BLM in the management of these lands.

“The strength of this improved and updated plan is its ability to adapt new information and new technology through its performance-based requirements,” Lonnie said.

“We know that the Northeast area has significant oil and gas reserves that are important to our country, but we also recognize the importance of protecting the area’s wildlife values.”

The agency said it would include protection for the polar bear, following last week’s listing of the species as endangered.

The supplemental final plan for Northeast NPRA updates information in the 2005 Northeast NPRA Amended Environmental Impact Statement.

The supplement was developed as a result of a 2006 U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska decision that the 2005 amended environmental impact statement for the Northeast NPRA failed to adequately address cumulative impacts to the region.

Following a period of public comment, the agency modified and selected an alternative for its final plan.

The Supplemental Final IAP/EIS for the Northeast NPR-A can be reached through a link on the BLM-Alaska’s home page at www.blm.gov/ak.