Alaska refuge a step closer to drilling

The Interior Department on Thursday took a key step toward allowing oil and gas drilling in a pristine wildlife refuge in Arctic Alaska, putting forth a range of proposals that the department said would protect the animals there.

The four possible plans, which would determine what parts of the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge could be opened to drilling, were included in a draft environmental report prepared by the Bureau of Land Management.

After a 45-day public comment period, the bureau is expected to select one of the alternatives and approve a final report early next summer.

If the process survives expected court challenges by environmental and conservation groups, as well as efforts by the incoming Democratic majority in the House to slow it down, lease sales for rights to drill for oil and gas could be held before the end of 2019.

Oil company exploration and development plans would require additional studies and approvals, however, so any drilling could be a decade or more away.

The draft report, called an environmental-impact statement, was issued exactly a year after Congress approved legislation opening the refuge to development.

Environmental groups have warned that drilling could harm wildlife in one of the most undisturbed landscapes in the United States. They say the Interior Department is rushing to finish the environmental impact statement because it is determined to sell leases before the 2020 presidential election, when a Democrat could take the White House.

“This isn’t a legitimate effort to look at how to avoid impacts,” said Adam Kolton, executive director of the Alaska Wilderness League. “This is a race against a political clock, to get leases before a new administration takes office.”