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Alaska Resource Advisory Council

Meeting Summary

Anchorage Federal Building
Denali Room, Anchorage, AK

February 13-14, 2003

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Thursday, February 13, 2003

Council members present:	BLM representatives present:
Charlie Boddy	Henri Bisson, State Director
Tom Crafford	Gene Terland, Acting Associate State Director
Gary "Gus" Gustafson, Chair	Ramone McCoy, Glennallen Field Office
Sandra Key	June Bailey, Anchorage Field Office
Susan Olsen	Bob Schneider, Northern Field Office
Paul Roehl	Jody Weil, External Affairs
Steve Simmons	Teresa McPherson, External Affairs (recorder)
John Stroud
Larry Taylor
David van den Berg, vice chair

Council members absent:	Other:
Larry Houle	Cam Toohey, Office of the Secretary
Jim Posey,
Rick Solie, Jr.

The chair called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m.

The chair welcomed everyone and opened the meeting with a safety moment. The council reviewed and approved the agenda. The council approved the October 15, 2002, RAC meeting minutes as written.

State Director's Update

Henri Bisson said BLM was still operating under a continuing resolution, which requires that agencies maintain a spending level consistent with the previous year. BLM hopes to have an appropriations bill by the middle of February.

Secretary Norton signed the Trans Alaska Pipeline System right-of-way renewal Jan. 8, 2003. Bisson said the decision is not appealable.

Bisson handed out a list of work priorities for BLM Alaska. He said BLM would commit resources according to the priority work list.

Bisson discussed plans to redesign the conveyance process to move BLM toward completion of this effort. He said he believes BLM can get there by 2009, instead of 2020, and was making several internal leadership changes to this end.

Bisson briefly discussed the recordable disclaimer of interest ruling. BLM is still sorting out what this means in Alaska. At this time the thrust will be mostly on navigable waters. BLM expects a proposal from the state to transfer riverbeds of up to 20 rivers already determined navigable by BLM. Some are in refuges and national parks, and may be controversial. He said BLM would make sure our decisions are sound and defendable.

Bisson met with Eleanor Huffines of The Wilderness Society and representatives from other conservation organizations who were concerned about the disclaimer rule. He asked Huffines to put those concerns in writing and BLM would consult the Solicitor and respond. He said questions such as these are helpful to BLM since they reveal issues that may surface should BLM issue a disclaimer.

Susan Olsen asked if the rule provided guidance regarding RS 2477's. Mike Haskins said the rule's preamble says the moratorium on 2477's does not apply to this rule, issued pursuant to the Federal Land Policy and Management Act. But even without a moratorium, BLM doesn't have current guidance or a process in place for processing RS 2477's.

Bisson said BLM may take another look at the Northeast NPR-A plan in the near future. The NE plan puts areas of highest potential off-limits to oil and gas leasing. Given current technology, this warrants a second look. Bisson said he would address this subject in greater detail at the next RAC meeting.

RAC Chairs' Conference, November 2002

Gary Gustafson gave an overview of the RAC chairs' conference held in Phoenix Nov. 19-20, 2002. Gustafson and other RAC chairs or designated representatives met with BLM Director Kathleen Clarke and key members of her staff. The group brainstormed ways to improve how BLM uses RACs and to make council members' service on the RACs more meaningful.

Gustafson said the director is committed to using RACs to enhance public participation in BLM issues. He said she and her staff plan to hold a follow-up conference in D.C. this spring.

BREAK

Field managers provided a brief update of their respective field offices.
Ramone McCoy, Glennallen Field Office

The Thompson Pass heliski EA was not appealed. BLM is preparing to issue authorizations and working on safety plans and permit stipulations.

BLM completed state conveyances along the Copper River below Chitina and in the Tangle Lakes Archaeological District where BLM conveyed eleven townships. The staff archaeologist will work with the state to modify the agreement to protect cultural resources.

BLM is working with the Congressional delegation to draft legislation for disposition of the Yakataga Bridge, which poses a significant safety issue at present.

BLM will issue annual commercial use permits for the Gulkana River, but may eventually look at multi-year permits under the Gulkana RMP. BLM is developing alternatives using comments on the draft released last fall.

The East Alaska RMP effort is underway. This RMP will be done in-house, although BLM has hired a consultant to assist in public participation. BLM will use a non-traditional approach to public meetings. Most of the meetings will be informal rural gatherings to solicit issues and concerns.

June Bailey, Anchorage Field Office

BLM has awarded URS Corporation a contract to complete the Ring of Fire RMP. Public scoping will begin once the Notice of Intent is published in the Federal Register.

Assistant Secretary Watson signed a PLO in late January withdrawing approximately 3,000 acres of Forest Service lands along the Russian River from mineral entry and location. The withdrawal was published in today's Federal Register.

BLM has analyzed a third-party EA that examined routes for the Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility across Campbell Tract. BLM determined that the north revetment and airstrip alternatives were not compatible with the present and future management of the tract. BLM is prepared to authorize a right-of-way along Abbott Loop Road once the utility obtains a coastal zone management certification.

BLM and the Kodiak Soil and Water Conservation District worked together to improve a 17(b) easement trail. BLM and the district negotiated an MOU for volunteers to lay 700 feet of GeoBlock and install two small bridges. This is the first such agreement in Alaska authorizing a third party to maintain a 17(b) easement across Native lands.

Bob Schneider, Northern Field Office

The NPR-A Subsistence Advisory Panel met in Dec. to review proposed exploration activities prior to the Jan. opening of tundra travel. The panel will meet again in Jan. and Feb. and will hold a joint meeting with the NPR-A Research and Monitoring Team in March.

A public meeting was held the prior evening in Fairbanks to hear comments on the Northwest NPR-A draft. About 50 persons attended. Comments covered a wide range of topics. David van den Berg attended and offered comments. John Stroud also attended and provided assistance with the online comment process. A public meeting will be held this evening in Anchorage and RAC members are invited to attend.
Henri Bisson commended John Stroud and ESRI for developing the web site for the public to review the draft plan and offer comments. He said the online process is a tremendous help to both those who want to comment and to BLM during comment analysis.

Bisson said the Secretary received a letter from conservation groups who want to meet and outline an alternative they feel is better than the alternatives offered in the draft. He also said BLM had received a fax from The Wilderness Society asking for NPR-A meetings in the Lower 48. He said at this time, none were planned.

Fairbanks Gold Mining, Inc. will begin exploration at Gilmore Creek in March. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration operates a tracking station at Gilmore Creek, and was concerned about possible electrical interference with satellite equipment. BLM, NOAA and the mine negotiated safeguards to allow the project to proceed.

RAC charter discussion

The council briefly discussed minor changes to the charter. The RAC favored three-year staggered terms and discussed expanding the membership to 15 members. Henri Bisson said he also favored three-year staggered terms.

The chair suggested a subgroup be formed to come up with recommended changes to the charter by the RAC's April meeting. The RAC agreed to this approach and Sandra Key, Charlie Boddy and Susan Olsen volunteered to serve on the subgroup.

LUNCH

The meeting resumed at 1 p.m. No one wished to speak during public comment, so the council left the comment period open and returned to the agenda.

The chair invited Cam Toohey of the Secretary's office to speak to the council.

Toohey said better state/federal cooperation and collaboration is a high priority with the Secretary, particularly during the Governor's transition.

Seven oil and gas EIS's are underway in the state, so Alaska is clearly responsive to the national energy plan. We want to put out a good product and make sure that we're doing the work correctly. We want to see development quickly as possible, but we want to give enough resources to these projects to ensure a good product.

Access to lands will be key over the next 20 years to ensure a stable economy.

Council members asked what the Secretary would like Alaska's RAC to focus on. Toohey asked the RAC to help with public participation in mining and oil and gas issues. He asked the council to support BLM in its efforts to streamline conveyances, that BLM has some creative solutions on the horizon and the council's support will be key to making these solutions work.

The chair thanked Toohey for his comments and said they would look forward to hearing from him again at future council meetings.

The chair asked John Stroud to give a short demo of the NPR-A e-planning web site.

Stroud explained he was involved in a pilot system to build a document on the web that allows people to review the draft plan and comment on-line. The program assigns each comment a tracking number that will help BLM analyze comments later. Map hyperlinks allow users to "mark up" maps and submit this data along with comments.

RAC members thought the process was superior to previous methods and said the pilot revolutionizes not only how people comment but also how BLM analyzes those comments. Members said digital format was a step forward and felt the site was fairly intuitive, but noted it required a certain familiarity with computers.

The chair thanked Stroud for the demo. He then invited any public comment on this or other topics.

Public comment: Stanley Porhole, UAA

Porhole said he held a B.S. in petroleum engineering and was currently a graduate student at UAA. He said he was concerned about public misperceptions about Alaska's oil industry.

He said prior to working on the North Slope, his expectations were colored by those misperceptions, but the reality was altogether different. He said he was impressed by industry practices that reduce impacts during exploration. He was concerned that people weren't getting an accurate picture and asked what he and others could do to correct this imbalance.

Some RAC members agreed more could be done to educate people. Gustafson said it was hard to get good information out and that all sides tend to use the information to their advantage. Another council member suggested Porhole use web chat rooms to talk about these issues and what he experienced working on the North Slope. Porhole said he and his wife already do so, but unfortunately the web was one of the biggest sources of misinformation on this topic.

Gustafson suggested Porhole visit Arctic Power's web site and perhaps refer others to the site. The RAC thanked Porhole for his comments and wished him luck in his career.

RAC 2003 Work Plan

Gary Gustafson said he had incorporated comments from RAC members into the revised draft work plan, except those received after mid December. The council discussed the format of the plan, which divided all topics into action items versus information items. The RAC discussed and approved several minor changes to the plan.

The RAC also discussed formation of several subgroups as outlined in the work plan. The charter subgroup would include Sandra Key, Charlie Boddy, Susan Olsen and Rick Solie. The subgroup agreed to work on revisions to the charter and circulate a revised charter and draft resolution two weeks prior to April RAC meeting.

The segregations work group included Tom Crafford (chair), Paul Roehl, Susan Olsen, Steve Simmons and Gary Gustafson.

The RAC discussed the need for a mining reclamation bonding review subgroup and whether this should be an action item or informational item for the council. Bisson said it might be best for the RAC to regard this as informational only, since others were already working on this task, but added that someone from the RAC might attend those meetings. The RAC agreed to move this topic to the information section of the work plan.

The OHV subgroup would include Susan Olsen, Larry Taylor, Larry Houle and Steve Simmons. The date for action by the subgroup was changed to the fourth quarter of 2003.

Bob Schneider said it would be helpful to him if the RAC could address the topic of recreation use cabins during resource management planning. He said his White Mountains team could give a short presentation on cabins during the April meeting. The RAC agreed this would be helpful. The RMP subgroup would include David van den Berg, John Stroud, Paul Roehl, Larry Taylor and Gary Gustafson.

BREAK

Following the break, Henri Bisson announced BLM had offered Stan Porhole a student internship with BLM, and Porhole accepted.

The chair then asked Tom Crafford to give a summary of the Jan. 24, 2003, meeting of the segregations work group.

Crafford explained this was primarily an informational meeting between subgroup members Paul Roehl, Tom Crafford, Susan Olsen (via teleconference), Steve Simmons, Gary Gustafson and himself, and key BLM lands and conveyance staff and managers. He said BLM presented a thorough picture of the various layers of selections and the complexities of adjudicating these layers should D-1 withdrawals be revoked.

Crafford said BLM had consulted the Solicitor about the viability of finding a wholesale solution to this problem. The Solicitor advised that large tracts could be challenged, but BLM might be successful with smaller tracts. Crafford said Paul Roehl had a resolution from Bristol Bay Native Corp. asking BLM to consider revocations in 39 specific townships that would provide a pilot for this effort. He said the subgroup decided a second RAC resolution was not needed at this time.

Henri Bisson said the BBNC pilot was a solid beginning and said the Solicitor's advice should not prevent the RAC from considering a similar approach for other areas.

Crafford said the subgroup asked BLM to provide more detailed information by May 30 about the pilot area regarding what layers of selections are in place, as well as significant resource issues in the area. The subgroup could then get a better handle on the level of difficulty or controversy this effort might generate.

Meeting recessed at 4:15 p.m.

Friday, February 14, 2003
The meeting reconvened at 8:35 a.m. Attendance was same as day one, with the inclusion of Rick Solie, Jr.

Colleen McCarthy of Minerals gave an overview of the NPR-A unitization rules.

McCarthy explained BLM published the NPR-A unitization rule to encourage operators to form cooperative oil and gas units in NPR-A. After the rule was published, Arctic Slope Regional Corporation, the Alaska Oil and Gas Association, and DNR approached BLM with concerns about unit negotiations and production allocation.

BLM held a stakeholder meeting in December to address these concerns. As a result, BLM is working with DNR, ASRC and AOGA to draft a model NPR-A unit agreement and a policy statement to clarify parts of the rule. McCarthy said BLM would like to get the RAC's input on the model agreement at the April council meeting.

The council discussed whether they had the expertise to offer advice on this topic. Bisson said BLM would like to engage the RAC in this discussion, in conjunction with industry groups, for balanced feedback.

Sandra Key asked McCarthy to include information in the April briefing detailing how the rule would benefit the environment. McCarthy agreed to do so, and said she would circulate a draft unit agreement to the RAC prior to the April meeting for members to review.

Accelerated Conveyance Program

George Oviatt (Cadastral Survey) and Brenda Zenan (Conveyances) gave a PowerPoint presentation on the need for accelerating the land transfer program and outlined innovative ways to achieve this goal by completing all remaining entitlements by 2009.

The proposal outlined a sequence of completing Native allotments, then ANCSA entitlements, and lastly, State entitlements. To do so, BLM will consider innovative ways to share some of the work, along with necessary funding, with the State and Alaska Native organizations. BLM is conducting informational briefings with key stakeholders to get feedback on the proposal and to refine the plan based on stakeholder needs and concerns.

Oviatt and Zenan said there are serious challenges to finalizing remaining entitlements. BLM must sort through layers of land status to determine which statutes apply. Other issues may only be resolved with legislation, such as a statutory deadline for the Native allotment process or authority to buy out claimants or substitute lands for existing selections within CSU's or NPR-A.

Oviatt said BLM proposes forming an Alaska Land Claims Commission to oversee the process and issue final decisions for the Department. This approach would require buy-in from the State, Native organizations, conservation groups and resource users. He said BLM plans to continue stakeholder discussions and to work with Congressionals on legislation and funding.

Henri Bisson suggested RAC members talk with others about the need to finalize land transfers, so everyone can move toward long-term management objectives. Paul Roehl said this would be a good topic to get on the agenda at the next meeting of the AFN Lands Committee.

Sandra Key congratulated BLM for thinking outside the box on this one, and said while the effort seems ambitious, the benefits are significant. She suggested BLM present this proposal by emphasizing the savings first, since numbers have impact. RAC members asked to get a copy of the presentation.

Gustafson said it's encouraging to see BLM work toward resolution of a situation that has existed for 40 years. He asked BLM to keep the RAC in the loop as the proposal evolves.

BREAK

NPR-A public hearing, Feb. 13, 2003

Gustafson said several RAC members had attended the Northwest NPR-A hearing the previous evening. He passed out an Audubon Society proposal introduced at the meeting and asked David van den Berg for his assessment of the meeting. Van den Berg said the meeting was well run, although the meeting room was tight. Public comments followed a roughly 60-40 split between alternatives A and C.

Gustafson said the conservation community, led by Deborah Williams, supported the Audubon proposal which didn't oppose leasing in NPR-A, but used available science to come up with environmental protections. Gustafson commended the proposal for avoiding the classic "A vs. C" split, advocating instead a science-based solution.

RAC 2003 Work Plan

The RAC discussed a few additional minor changes to the work plan and the chair called for a vote. The work plan was adopted unanimously by all members present.

The RAC commended Gustafson for guiding them successfully through the process of developing and approving a work plan that would provide a road map for their efforts in 2003.

RAC officer selection

Gustafson opened the floor for nominations for chair and vice chair. John Stroud nominated David van den Berg; Paul Roehl seconded the nomination. Rick Solie nominated Tom Crafford; Larry Taylor seconded the nomination. There were no additional nominations.

The RAC agreed that the nominee with the most votes would serve as chair and the remaining nominee as vice chair. The council voted by closed ballot. David van den Berg was elected chair and Tom Crafford vice chair.

Henri Bisson and the council gave Gary Gustafson a round of applause for his outstanding service as chair for the previous two years.

RAC 2003 call for nominations

Teresa McPherson said the Bureau would publish a consolidated call for RAC nominations in mid-March. This would open a 45-day nomination period, after which Henri Bisson would review all nominations and prepare his recommendations to the Secretary. Appointments would be announced in September and take effect October 1.

Bisson encouraged RAC members to consider renomination. He said he enjoyed working with the Alaska RAC and looked forward to seeing familiar faces along with new ones in the fall.

RAC July field tour

Bob Schneider briefly outlined an itinerary for the RAC to charter out of Fairbanks to Coldfoot, fly over a permit operation at Yukon Crossing, and tour Toolik Lake research station. The RAC discussed holding a meeting for the residents of Coldfoot and Wiseman at the community center at Wiseman. Schneider said he would bring a detailed itinerary to the April meeting for the RAC to discuss and finalize.

Tom Crafford and David van den Berg said they might not be able to make the field tour due to schedule conflicts.

Old business

David van den Berg asked if the RAC wished to respond to the letter from Ruth McHenry of Copper Country Alliance. The council felt it was appropriate to send a brief acknowledgement, so the chair said he would draft a letter confirming the RAC had received her correspondence.

2003 meeting schedule

The council reviewed and confirmed the following dates:

April 28-29 (Fairbanks)

July 10-11 field tour (Coldfoot)

October 20-21 (Anchorage)

Meeting adjourned 12:15 p.m.

Please contact the Alaska RAC Coordinator for further information.