State approves longer seismic lines near Beluga after no comments

The Alaska Division of Oil and Gas approved a request from Explor Geoscience USA on Friday to extend two seismic survey lines near Beluga by a combined 9.7 miles. No agency or member of the public commented on the change.

The change modifies a permit for a land-based seismic survey on state land in the coastal wetlands of the Susitna Flats Game Refuge, about 13 miles northeast of the Beluga airstrip. The division approved the original permit in March 2025. The change takes effect immediately and runs through March 2030, when the original permit expires. Crews may work only from Nov. 1 to March 31 each year, a window the Alaska Department of Fish and Game set to limit harm to wildlife.

The approval letter extends one line 6.1 miles northwest and another 3.6 miles to the northeast and southwest. The letter says that brings the total survey extent to 20 miles.

But Explor's application lists two options of about 20 miles each, and only one will be surveyed. The preferred option extends lines at Stump Lake past the Castle Mountain Fault and across the Stump Lake anticline. The other is the four-line survey approved in March 2025. The record suggests the approval shifts where the lines run more than it adds to the overall length. Alaska News reported Oct. 7, when the state opened comment, that the change would bring the survey "to 20 miles total."

Crews on foot drill 5-foot holes by hand and load each with a 130- or 230-gram explosive charge. Explor plans to mobilize Nov. 1, lay out receivers in early January 2027, set off charges Jan. 9 to 24 and finish collecting data by Feb. 16.

The division notified five agencies and posted public notice in early October. Neither drew comment. Appeals to the natural resources commissioner are due within 20 days, but only an affected person who commented in time may appeal.

The division waived the usual performance bond, finding Explor's liability insurance sufficient. Explor must coordinate with subsistence and personal use harvesters and trap line owners and mark snowmachine and dogsled trails crossed by survey lines.