Much attention has been focused on protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from the Bush administration and its desire to expand the nation's fossil fuel production by opening this area for oil and gas development. However, efforts to authorize drilling in the Arctic Refuge have so far failed in the U.S. Senate in the face of strong opposition from people around the country. Earthjustice continues to contribute to this fight from our Policy and Legislation Office in Washington, D.C.

Meanwhile, the Bush administration has set its sights on Arctic wildlands west of the Arctic Refuge and immediately west of the existing oil fields of Prudhoe Bay. Attorneys in Juneau are focusing on protecting the ecologically significant areas in the western Arctic from potentially massive industrial oil and gas development.

The Western Arctic and Why It Is Important

The western Arctic lies at the northern edge of Alaska, west of the Arctic Refuge and Prudhoe Bay, and below the Arctic Ocean in the north. (See a pdf map of the region here.) The western Arctic accounts for 35 million acres, the majority of which comprise the 23.5-million-acre National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, the largest unprotected block of land in the federal land system. Read more about how the Reserve got its name.

The western Arctic is an area of varied topography that ranges from coastal lagoons in the north to rugged mountains in the south. Its varied ecosystems and habitats support a diversity of fish and wildlife, including large populations of grizzly and polar bear, muskox and caribou, arctic fox and wolves, seals and bowhead whales, and several species of anadromous fish. The coastal lagoons and plain, tundra wetlands, and lakes provide extremely valuable nesting, staging, feeding, and molting areas for millions of waterfowl, sea and shorebirds, including yellow-billed loons, Pacific black brant, spectacled and Steller's eiders, and sandpipers.

Local residents, mainly Inupiat, who have lived there for centuries, continue to live close to the land in this region, depending on wildlife and other resources to sustain their families.

What's at Risk

In recent years, much of the western Arctic has been turned over to the highest bidders, piece by piece. In 1998, the Department of Interior authorized oil and gas leasing in the 4.6-million-acre Northeast Planning Area of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. In two separate lease sales that followed in 1999 and 2002, 193 tracts were leased to the oil companies. The Northeast Planning Area has seen some winter exploration drilling, but currently has no permanent oil and gas development. However, a recent approval of the Alpine Satellite Development Program at the Colville River Delta is threatening the northeastern corner of the Planning Area with a first-ever permanent development. Earthjustice and its clients have challenged the Department of Interior’s decision to lease this area to force the agency to consider the special wilderness, wildlife, and other values of this region. Learn more about this lawsuit.

In 2006, the Department of Interior amended the 1998 plan to open previously-protected areas to leasing. The area at stake included the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area encompassing one of the most important and sensitive wetland complexes in the circumpolar Arctic. This area offers key calving and insect-relief habitat for the Teshekpuk Lake Caribou Herd, molting and nesting areas for various birds, and subsistence hunting and fishing grounds for local people. A portion of this area was previously set aside due to its significant wildlife habitat values. In its final decision, in January 2006, the Department of the Interior reversed previous protections by opening the entire Teshekpuk Lake Special Area to oil and gas leasing. In addition, it rolled back other protections for this key wildlife area of the reserve. Earthjustice, representing several groups, successfully challenged this decision, and the associated environmental analysis, in a federal district court in Alaska. Learn more about this lawsuit.

In June 2004, another massive piece of the western Arctic was opened to oil and gas development. This time, in the largest single onshore lease sale in United States’ history, the Interior Department offered 5.4 million acres of the 8.8-million-acre Northwest Planning Area of the Reserve for oil and gas leasing. This northwest portion of the reserve provides habitat to globally-significant migratory bird populations, two important caribou herds, marine mammals, and threatened Steller’s and spectacled eiders, as well as the rare yellow-billed loon. Unfortunately, Earthjustice and its clients were not able to stop the leasing from going forward.

The third portion of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska involves the Southern Planning Area, a huge expanse of land between the Brooks Range and the Northwest Planning Area encompassing, among other things, the headwaters of the Colville and Meade Rivers. Earthjustice and the conservation groups are keeping a close eye on the scoping process that the Department of the Interior initiated in 2005.

Map showing the various planning areas of the Reserve. (pdf file -- will open in a new window)

In addition to all the onshore threats to the western Arctic, the Federal and state governments are also promoting oil and gas development offshore. Both entities are conducting regular lease sales that are jeopardizing the sensitive marine environment and the integrity of the wilderness, wildlife, and coastal habitats of both the western Arctic and the Arctic Refuge. The oil companies have shown increased interest in off shore oil leasing and have stepped up leasing and exploration off shore. Together with the efforts to open the Arctic Refuge and the ongoing leasing and other activities in the western Arctic, the offshore activities in the Arctic Ocean are part of a full-scale assault on America's Arctic.

How the NPR-A Got Its Name

For the last several millennia and before European settlers began arriving in the nineteenth century, the western Arctic was home to plentiful wildlife, Inupiat Eskimos, and other Arctic peoples.

In 1923, President Warren Harding decided to set aside a portion of the western Arctic as an oil reserve for the United States Navy, calling it the Naval Petroleum Reserve No.4. Since that time, however, no oil development has occurred in the reserve and only sporadic exploration activity has affected the region.

In 1976, Congress recognized the unique wilderness and wildlife values of the reserve and transferred its management to the Department of the Interior. The area was also renamed the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska. Congress provided special protection for sensitive ecosystems in the area, including Teshekpuk Lake and the Colville River. Congress then directed the Secretary of the Interior to study the many values of the area and put off making any decisions about the future of the reserve.

Since 1976, Congress has allowed some limited oil leasing in the area (however all leases granted in the 1980s have expired) and considered bills that would turn the reserve into a national wildlife refuge but no final action was taken. Now, even though Congress has never resolved the question of protection for the key regions within the reserve, the Bush administration is pursuing aggressive development of the reserve threatening these pristine public lands, and the wildlife and people depending on them.

Protecting the Most Sensitive Areas

The various legal actions taken by Earthjustice and its clients in the western Arctic focus on protecting the most sensitive areas, and their key values, from oil and gas development. These areas include:

Teshekpuk River Region, including the Dease Inlet-Meade River

Coastal lagoons, deep-water lakes, wet sedge grass meadows, braided streams.
Critical habitat for internationally significant populations of Pacific black brant as well as king, spectacled, and Steller's eiders, northern pintails, long-tailed ducks, tundra swans, rare yellow-billed loons, peregrine falcons, and many more.
Calving ground for the 45,000 Teshekpuk caribou herd. Polar bears roam the coast.
Inupiat have used this area for subsistence for thousands of years.

Colville River Watershed

The wild Colville is the largest river on Alaska's North Slope. Home to caribou, moose, brown bears, and over 20 species of fish.
River cliffs and banks support high-density nesting populations of raptors, including gyrfalcons, Arctic peregrine, and rough-legged falcons. The Colville River delta supports the highest nesting densities of greater white-fronted geese in the western Arctic and nearly half of all the nesting black brant in the region.

Peard Bay

Located along the Chukchi Sea coast, Peard Bay encompasses a network of lakes, ponds, streams, river deltas, and wet and moist tundra.
Important habitat for waterfowl and shorebirds, including ducks, geese, threatened spectacled eider, as well as for yellow-billed loons and buff-breasted sandpipers. Known denning area for polar bears.

Kasegaluk Lagoon

One of the largest coastal lagoons in the world featuring high concentrations of polar bears and a great diversity of avian species, including black brant and other waterfowl.
Contains the most important summer habitat for beluga whales and spotted seals in the northeast Chukchi Sea. As many as 3,500 belugas concentrate in the area each year.

Ikpikpuk River Region

Key nesting site for peregrine falcons and habitat for fish.