Alaska Beat

ConocoPhillips wins key federal permit to begin NPR-A development

Oil companies continue to take steps toward development in Alaska. The latest move: The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reversed a past decision and awarded a permit to ConocoPhillips, allowing the company to build key bridge and pipeline crossings over the Colville River to access oil fields in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.

The Clean Water Act permit, allowing ConocoPhillips Alaska to reach its CD-5 Alpine Development project on the North Slope, follows a recent agreement involving the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The agreement supported the crossing if environmental mitigation measures were put in place.

The bridge has been called key to opening up development in the Indiana-sized, 23 million-acre reserve. It will allow oil tapped from the reserve to be transported to the trans-Alaska pipeline.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the top Republican on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, applauded the Corps decision.

"Today's decision represents a victory for Alaska that was a long time coming," she said. "NPR-A has long been cited as an example of the federal government's commitment to domestic oil production, but in reality the gates to NPR-A have been locked by bureaucracy and regulatory red tape. The Corps' revised decision finally unlocks those gates."

The Corps permit authorizes construction of a drill pad, two valve pads, pipeline support structures, access roads and four bridge crossings for the development of the site, located just inside NPR-A's eastern border. CD-5 is a satellite of the company's Alpine field.

Gov. Sean Parnell also praised the development. "The potential new production from the NPR-A can lead to more jobs for Alaskans," he said. "Increasing responsible energy production is a national and economic security imperative."

Read more here in an Associated Press story.

Alex DeMarban

Alex DeMarban is a longtime Alaska journalist who covers business, the oil and gas industries and general assignments. Reach him at 907-257-4317 or alex@adn.com.

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