ConocoPhillips seeks five more years of North Slope off-road travel; comments due Friday

ConocoPhillips Alaska has asked the state to renew its permit to drive off-road and build ice roads and ice pads on state land between the Canning and Colville rivers on the North Slope.

The company's current permit expires Dec. 17, according to its application. It is asking for another five years, through Dec. 17, 2031, the longest term the state allows. Written comments to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources' Division of Oil and Gas are due Friday, Oct. 16, according to the division's public notice.

The permit covers work in support of oil and gas operations: off-road travel, ice road and ice pad construction, surveying and installing thermistors. Work sites "may vary from year to year," the application says, and may be near existing pads, routes and staging areas. Crews would get there by tracked and low-ground-pressure vehicles, trucks on ice roads, snowmachines, planes and helicopters.

It is a general permit. The division says it would review individual activities case by case.

All off-road travel on state land on the North Slope requires a permit, and the state sets when it can happen. Winter travel opens only once the soil 12 inches down reaches 23 degrees Fahrenheit and snow averages 6 inches in coastal areas or 9 inches in the foothills, according to DNR's fact sheet. In summer, only vehicles the state has tested and approved may travel off-road. Any tundra damage must be reported within 72 hours and rehabilitated.

Hilcorp Alaska applied for a similar five-year permit earlier this year, Alaska News reported in June.