Willow Supplemental Draft EIS: Talking Points for Public Hearings

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Key Concerns About the Process and Timing:

  • These hearings should NOT be happening right now. Holding the minimally required public comment period in the middle of a global health crisis does not support public participation; it suppresses it.

  • Holding public meetings through Zoom is not appropriate, especially for remote areas in Alaska where people don’t necessarily have access to the technology or fast enough Internet to participate in meetings. 

    • BLM is not providing for meaningful participation by affected communities in this process.  With limited access to internet connections it will be incredibly difficult for North Slope communities to engage. Those who can engage in these virtual meetings are privileged to do so. Meaningful public participation requires in-person public meetings at a time when people can actually engage. These hearings are NOT legitimate and are aimed at cutting the public out of this process.

    • It is further disrespectful to people focused on the health of their families and communities-- who are undergoing incredible stress, who have lost access to some of their material needs because of the shutdown, who have children and elders to take care of, and who already face health and safety concerns—to have the ability to find the time or focus on materials related to this proposed project, or to comment on them. 

    • The agency’s effort to plow forward on public processes clearly shows that it lacks concern for or real world knowledge of the region’s health concerns, or even recognizes the inequity of  “business as usual” while the public lives anything but business as usual.      

  • It is unconscionable for the Trump Administration and ConocoPhillips to move forward with two public comment periods, public meetings, and subsistence hearings on this project in the middle of a global pandemic. The Trump Administration should not be fast-tracking extraction of oil and gas in the midst of this global health crisis.

    • BLM and the Corps dismissed our requests to suspend the comment period so that the public could participate meaningfully. 

  • Our attention is focused on keeping our families healthy and safe. Alaska’s schools are closed, which means parents are focused on childcare. Workplace activities have been disrupted, making it difficult for many people to focus on business-as-usual activities. 

Problems with BLM’s Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS):

  • BLM’s supplement still does nothing to address the serious impacts to public health, wildlife, land, and water from this massive project. 

  • This document is all about catering to ConocoPhillips’ wishes and about giving ConocoPhillips exactly what it wants, as quickly as possible — it is not about addressing the serious harms from oil and gas. 

  • BLM cherry picks project changes it is considering – ConocoPhillips has made significant changes to the project, including changing its location, size, facilities, and projected aircraft and vehicle traffic. BLM chose not to analyze any of these changes in its supplemental draft EIS, instead only focusing on project changes that ConocoPhillips asked the agency to analyze. This doesn’t allow the public to understand the true impacts of this project.

  • Alternatives: The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) requires the BLM to consider alternatives to ConocoPhillips’ proposal. But BLM has not done this. Despite including an additional alternative eliminating the offshore gravel island, BLM has still failed to consider reasonable alternatives to the. 

    • Implies that this is a done deal, and Conoco is going to get exactly what they want. 

  • BLM has not fully considered the cumulative impacts of further development in the western Arctic. GMT1 and GMT2 have just been completed, and more studies are needed before BLM and other permitting agencies can understand the extent the impacts of development are having on this area.

Background on ConocoPhillips’ Willow Project & BLM’s Actions to Date:

  • This is a complex and far-reaching infrastructure proposal that is likely to have significant impacts on the region and the entire National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska (NPR-A) — particularly on the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area. 

  • This project is massive. The master development plan (MDP) would include a new central processing facility within the NPR-A, up to five drill pads with up to fifty wells on each pad, an extensive road system, an airstrip, pipelines, a gravel mine, and a potential gravel island in Harrison Bay. 

    • In GMT1, BLM determined a single drill pad would significantly impact Nuiqsut’s subsistence uses. 

  • The proposal is within and next to the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area, one of the most productive wetland complexes in the Arctic and an important calving ground for the Teshekpuk Lake Caribou Herd, an important subsistence resource for communities on the North Slope.  

  • Conoco’s proposal involves building seven bridges within the project area. Any one bridge has the potential to significantly impact wetlands, fish passage, and water flow.

  • The central processing facility, pads, roads and gravel islands and their river crossings will negatively impact vegetation, permafrost conditions, waterways, and wildlife (both onshore and marine mammals) in an area already under stress from climate change, making the effects of the project difficult to predict.