A federal judge has allowed ConocoPhillips to proceed with its winter exploration program in Alaska’s North Slope, over the objections of environmental and Indigenous groups.
On Tuesday, Chief Judge Sharon Gleason of the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska said mitigation measures put in place by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management were sufficient to address potential harms from the oil company’s exploration and seismic program in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPR-A).
Gleason, an Obama appointee, found that BLM had done a “reasonably thorough analysis” of effects from the program, which includes four exploration wells and a seismic survey over 300 miles in the reserve.
She noted that the agency included measures such as prohibiting off-road travel when the soil isn’t sufficiently frozen and when there is less than 6 inches of snow. ConocoPhillips is also prohibited from bulldozing tundra mat and vegetation to make seismic lines.