[Federal Register: February 18, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 32)]
[Notices]
[Page 7802-7803]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr18fe03-76]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Land Management
[AK-930-03-1310-DO]
Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement on
a Proposed Development of Oil Facilities in the National Petroleum
Reserve--Alaska and the Colville River Delta
AGENCY: Bureau of Land Management; Alaska State Office, Interior.
ACTION: Notice of intent (NOI) to prepare an Environmental Impact
Statement (EIS) for full field development in connection with
ConocoPhillips's Alpine Satellite Development Program within the
National Petroleum Reserve--Alaska (NPR-A) and in the Colville River
Delta.
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SUMMARY: This document provides notice that the Bureau of Land
Management (BLM) Alaska State Office will be preparing a full field
development EIS in connection with the ConocoPhillips Alpine Satellite
Development Program. The BLM is the lead Federal agency in the
development of this EIS. The United States Army Corps of Engineers
(USACE), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the State of
Alaska are cooperating agencies. The project area is located on the
North Slope of Alaska in the Colville River Delta and in the northeast
portion of the NPR-A.
This EIS will fulfill the needs and obligations set forth by the
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), other relevant laws and
regulations, and the management policies of the BLM, the USACE, EPA,
and the State of Alaska. The BLM will work collaboratively with
interested parties to identify the issues concerning the project that
need to be addressed in the EIS, assure an appropriate range of
alternatives, and develop mitigation that is suited to local, regional,
and national needs and concerns. The public scoping process will help
identify these issues, alternatives, and potential mitigation, as well
as help provide resource, socio-economic, subsistence, and other
valuable information for the development of the EIS.
DATES: This notice initiates the public scoping process. Scoping
comments can be submitted in writing to the address listed below and
will be accepted through March 31, 2003. All public meetings will be
announced through the local news media, a mailing, and the web site
developed for the project, http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leavingFR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.alpine-satellites-eis.com.
Public Participation: In order to ensure local community
participation and input, public scoping meetings will be held in
Anchorage, Barrow, Fairbanks, and Nuiqsut. In addition to the scoping
process, there will be opportunities for public participation and
comment on the draft EIS.
ADDRESSES: Written comments may be mailed to Alpine Satellite
Development Program EIS, Entrix, Inc., 3701 East Tudor Road, Suite 205,
Anchorage, Alaska 99507; faxed to 907-563-0439; hand-delivered to
Entrix, Inc., 3701 East Tudor Road, Suite 205, Anchorage, Alaska or to
the BLM Public Information Center in the Federal Building, 222 W. 7th
Avenue, Anchorage, Alaska; or forwarded electronically through the
project website at http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leavingFR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.alpine-satellites-eis.com. Individual
respondents may request confidentiality. If you wish to withhold your
name or street address from public review or from disclosure under the
Freedom of Information Act, you must state this prominently at the
beginning of your written comment. Such requests will be honored to the
extent allowed by law. All submissions from organizations and
businesses, and from individuals identifying themselves as
representatives or officials of organizations or businesses, will be
available for public inspection in their entirety.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: For further information and/or to have your
name added to our mailing list, contact Jim Ducker, Telephone 907-271-
3130; email Jim_Ducker@blm.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY AND BACKGROUND INFORMATION: The EIS will analyze the
development proposal submitted by ConocoPhillips Alaska, Inc (CPAI).
The company's proposal includes development of two oil and gas
accumulations in the Colville Delta east of NPR-A and three
accumulations within NPR-A. The EIS also will examine full field
development of additional well sites and one or more new processing
facilities within the field.
The development on Federal lands within NPR-A is subject to the
management direction provided by BLM's Record of Decision for the
Northeast National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska Integrated Activity Plan/
Environmental Impact Statement (Northeast NPR-A IAP/EIS). The Record of
Decision for this full field development EIS may amend the Northeast
NPR-A IAP/EIS. Any amendment, including exceptions to requirements to
the Northeast NPR-A IAP/EIS, would be limited to those necessary for
the development authorized by BLM following completion of this EIS and
will not constitute a general amendment of the Northeast NPR-A IAP/EIS.
CPAI currently operates their Alpine Central Processing Facility
(ACPF) near Nuiqsut, Alaska. CPAI has proposed to develop oil and gas
from five satellites. Two satellites known as CD-3 (CD North during
exploration) and CD-4 (CD South) are in the Colville Delta. Three other
proposed satellites known as CD-5, CD-6, and CD-7 (Alpine West,
Lookout, and Spark, respectively, during exploration) are in the NPR-A.
The CD-3 and CD-4 satellite locations involve lands owned,
respectively, by the State of Alaska and by Kuukpik Corporation, a
Native-owned corporation created by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act (ANCSA). The state and another ANCSA corporation, the Arctic Slope
Regional Corporation (ASRC), own the oil and gas associated with these
two satellites. CD-5 is proposed to be located within NPR-A on Kuukpik
land and an ASRC oil and gas lease. CD-6 and CD-7 are located on oil
and gas leases in the Northeast portion of NPR-A that are administered
by the BLM.
CPAI's proposed development of CD-3 would consist of a gravel pad
capable of supporting up to 32 wells. The site would also contain a
gravel airstrip that would be used for access to the site. The proposed
development of CD-4 would include a gravel pad capable of supporting up
to 32 wells and the construction of a 3.6-mile gravel road that would
connect the site to the Alpine facility. The proposed CD-5 would
require a gravel pad capable of supporting 20-30 wells and the
construction of approximately 3 miles of gravel road with a vehicle-
capable bridge to cross the Nigliq Channel. The proposed CD-6
development would require a gravel pad capable of supporting up to 30
wells and the construction of approximately 10 miles of all weather
gravel road that would connect to CD-5. The proposed CD-7 production
site development would require a gravel pad capable of supporting up to
30 wells and the construction of approximately 6 miles of gravel road
that would connect CD-6 and CD-7.
Utility lines would connect each of the satellite pads to ACPF. Oil
and gas products produced at these sites would be transported by a
pipeline to the ACPF and after processing the finished product would be
transported through an existing pipeline to the Kuparuk facility and
from Kuparuk through
[[Page 7803]]
existing pipelines to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System.
Henri R. Bisson,
State Director, Bureau of Land Management, Alaska State Office.
[FR Doc. 03-3821 Filed 2-14-03; 8:45 am]