Environmentalists urge US to plan ‘phasedown’ of Alaska’s key oil pipeline amid climate concerns
JUNIAU, Alaska — Environmental groups on Wednesday petitioned the U.S. Department of the Interior to assess climate impacts associated with the decades-old Trans-Alaska Pipeline system and develop a plan for a “managed phase-out” of the 770-mile (1,287-kilometer) pipeline, the Pipeline of Alaska. economic lifeline.
The request comes more than a year after the Biden administration approved it the massive Willow oil project on Alaska’s oil-rich North Slope, a decision welcomed by Alaska’s political leaders who wanted to reverse a trend of declining oil production in the state and by many Alaska Native leaders in the region who view the project as economically essential to their community. Willow, which is being developed by ConocoPhillips Alaskacould produce up to 180,000 barrels of oil per day.
Some of the groups that filed the petition, including the Center for Biological Diversity and Sovereign Inupiat for a Living Arctic, are among those who asked an appeals court to reverse Willow’s approval. A decision is pending.
Oil flow through the trans-Alaska pipeline system averaged about 470,000 barrels per day last year. At its peak in the late 1980s, about 2 million barrels per day flowed through the line, which opened in 1977.
The last environmental review, conducted more than two decades ago as part of a right-of-way renewal, is “woefully outdated,” the groups said in their petition. They cite the rapid warming and changes the Arctic has experienced, noting that several ice-dependent species, such as polar bears, have been granted Endangered Species Act protections since the last review. They also raise concerns about the impact of thawing permafrost on pipeline infrastructure. Although the next environmental review is expected in about ten years, they say it is too long to wait.
“Every drop of oil that moves through the pipeline is more climate devastation, both here in Alaska and around the world,” said Cooper Freeman, director of the Center for Biological Diversity in Alaska. “The longer we wait to have this hard conversation about the inevitable – because we need to move away from fossil fuels and we need to do that urgently – the harder it will be for Alaska.”
Michelle Egan, spokesperson for pipeline operator Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., said in a statement that the company continues to “work with our numerous federal and state regulatory partners as we meet our commitments to safe and environmentally responsible operations. We are steadfast and committed to being a prudent operator, safely and reliably transporting oil from Alaska’s North Slope into the future.”
Freeman said Home Affairs can accept or deny the groups’ request, which the groups can challenge. If Home Affairs does not respond within a reasonable time, the groups can try to force a response through the courts, he said.
Home Affairs had no comment, spokesperson Giovanni Rocco said by email.
The petition asks that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which falls under the Interior Department, evaluate a range of options, including not renewing the right-of-way, granting the right-of-way for a period of ten years or less to allow space to provide for “continued reevaluation of the landscape in which TAPS operates,” placing potential limits on the amount of oil flowing through the pipeline and requiring North Slope oil producers to implement emissions controls on their operations.
The groups say the “only rational conclusion from that analysis will be a managed phase-out of the pipeline,” and their petition calls on the land management agency to start working on such a plan. No timeline for a phaseout is proposed.
“We are not asking for the pipeline to be closed tomorrow. We’re saying you need to start the conversation now,” Freeman said. “That includes extensive conversations, engagement and consultation with communities across Alaska, especially on the North Slope. …The longer we wait, the more pain for people, wildlife and the climate, especially here in Alaska.