Three virtual hearings this week will take comments on BLM's Arctic fast-track

Three virtual hearings beginning Tuesday will give Alaskans a chance to address a proposed 60-day permitting process that the Bureau of Land Management says could roughly double the drilling pads, roads and pipelines expected in the National Petroleum Reserve over the next 20 years.

The first session runs Tuesday from 5 to 8 p.m. A second is scheduled Wednesday from 9 a.m. to noon, followed by a final session Thursday from 1 to 4 p.m. All times are Alaska time, and advance registration is required.

BLM held in-person meetings last week in Utqiagvik, Atqasuk and Nuiqsut. Its project page currently includes the agency's presentation but does not list transcripts or recordings of testimony from those communities.

The numbers giving the remaining hearings their weight appear in BLM's draft environmental analysis. Its scenario for the proposed rule includes 18 satellite drilling pads, compared with nine if the current process continues. Roads and pipelines rise from 80 miles each to 160, and disturbed ground grows from 818 acres to 1,636.

Those figures are planning assumptions, not approved projects or guaranteed construction. BLM says markets, geology and other permits could slow development. It also says shorter reviews and greater certainty could speed it up.

Under the proposed rule, BLM would have 60 days to approve or conditionally approve a complete, qualifying application within 25 miles of permanent oil and gas infrastructure. Newly built infrastructure could then become the starting point for the next 25-mile zone. Alaska News previously explained how that step-by-step expansion would work.

The meetings also serve as hearings under Section 810 of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. BLM found that the rule could significantly restrict subsistence in Nuiqsut, Atqasuk and Utqiagvik. The finding requires the agency to hear from affected communities and later determine whether the restrictions are necessary and whether reasonable steps can reduce the harm.

Comments remain open through Nov. 9. Comments on the environmental analysis go through BLM's project page; comments on the regulatory language go through the federal rulemaking docket.