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Last updated: 04/04/03

BLM Extends Public Comment Period on Proposed Rule
Relating to Oil and Gas Activities in the
National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska

The Bureau of Land Management today announced that it is extending for 45 days the public comment period on its proposed rule on unitization and other matters relating to oil and gas activities in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPRA). The public comment period, originally scheduled to end today, will now close on August 10.

"I encourage all interested parties who have not already commented to take advantage of this 45-day extension," said BLM Director Tom Fry.

The proposed rule, which the BLM published in the April 26 Federal Register (see 65 FR 24542) would add to the BLM's existing NPRA regulations certain provisions dealing with unitization, suspensions, and subsurface-storage agreements.

The proposal would implement recent changes in a law that governs oil and gas activities in the NPRA. Under the proposed rule, companies operating in the NPRA would be able to "unitize" their oil and gas leases. Unitization maximizes production while minimizing the environmental impact of development. Under a unit agreement, several lessees share in the risks and costs - as well as the potential benefits - of oil and gas exploration and development. Unitization also reduces impacts from drilling by enabling two or more leases to be in production using fewer wells.

Suspensions allow leases to be extended beyond their authorized time or term by "stopping the clock" under circumstances that are beyond the control of the operator. Subsurface storage agreements allow operators, for a fee, to store oil or gas on BLM-managed lands in existing geological structures rather than in oil or gas tanks. Little environmental risk is posed by this type of storage. Subsurface storage agreements would facilitate production in the NPRA, where storage is necessary because, among other factors, the severe climate makes it difficult to construct distribution systems for the oil and gas.

Comments on the proposed rule, which must be submitted in writing, should be sent no later than August 10, 2000, to the following address: Bureau of Land Management, Administrative Record, Room 401 LS, 1849 C Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20240. Comments may also be sent electronically via the Internet to: WOComments@wo.blm.gov. Anyone submitting comments electronically should include "attn: AD13" in the message, along with the sender's name and address.

The BLM, an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior, manages more land - 264 million surface acres -- than any other Federal agency. Most of this public land is located in 12 Western states, including Alaska. The Bureau, with a budget of $1.4 billion and a workforce of some 8,700 full-time permanent employees, also administers more than 560 million acres of sub-surface mineral estate throughout the nation. The BLM preserves open space by managing the public lands for multiple uses, including outdoor recreation, livestock grazing, and mining, and by conserving natural, historical, cultural, and other resources found on the public lands.

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