Lawmaker rips BLM on legacy well cleanup issue

Rep. Charisse Millett, R-Anchorage, introduced House Joint Resolution 29 urging the BLM "to plug legacy wells properly and to reclaim the legacy well sites as soon as possible in order to protect the environment in the Arctic region." A resolution does not carry the same weight as a bill that can become law. Rather, upon passage, a resolution merely expresses the Legislature's view on a given subject.

A statement issued by Millett says only seven of some 137 wells drilled by the government in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A) from the mid-1940s to the early 1980s have been properly plugged and cleaned up.

"The remaining sites are littered with scrap metal and wood, rotting buildings and rusting barrels," Millett's statement says. "The unplugged wells also threaten to contaminate ground water. Three wells can no longer be found."

"Because the state can't fine the federal government we can't force it to take action," she said.

Several other House members have signed on as co-sponsors of the resolution, including Reps. Max Gruenberg, D-Anchorage; Anna Fairclough, R-Eagle River; Chris Tuck, D-Anchorage; Steve Thompson, R-Fairbanks; and Beth Kerttula, D-Juneau.

The resolution has been referred to the House Resources Committee. Millett is not a member of that committee.

A spokesperson in BLM's Anchorage office had not yet responded to a Jan. 25 request for comment on the resolution.

Millett isn't the first state official to criticize the BLM over the legacy wells.

Members of the state agency that regulates drilling, the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, also have questioned BLM's handling of the wells.

In 2009, commission member Cathy Foerster began pressing for a status report on the old wells: Were they suspended, shut-in or what?

A BLM official replied that the agency, at "enormous expense," had plugged 13 legacy wells over seven years and other wells were believed to pose no risk.

Millett said money shouldn't be an excuse for inaction. Her resolution says the federal government received nearly $9.5 billion from lease sales in NPR-A and on Alaska's outer continental shelf.