Environmentalists urge US to plan ‘reversal’ of trans-Alaska pipeline amid climate concerns

Environmental groups on Wednesday called on the U.S. Department of the Interior to review the climate impacts associated with the decades-old Trans-Alaska Pipeline System and develop a plan for a “managed retirement” of the 800-mile pipeline, which is Alaska’s economic salvation.

The request comes more than a year after the Biden administration approved the massive Willow oil project on the oil-rich North Slope, a decision that was welcomed by Alaska’s political leaders seeking to stem a trend of declining oil production in the state and by a lot of alaska. Local leaders in the region who see the project as economically vital to their communities. Willow, which is being developed by ConocoPhillips Alaska, can produce up to 180,000 barrels of oil per day.

Some of the groups that filed the petition, including the Center for Biological Diversity and Sovereign Inupiat for a Living Arctic, are among those asking an appeals court to overturn Willow’s approval. A decision is pending.

The flow of oil through the trans-Alaska pipeline system averaged about 470,000 barrels per day last year. At its peak in the late 1980s, about 2 million barrels per day flowed through the line, which began operating in 1977.

The last environmental analysis, done more than 20 years ago as part of a right-of-way renewal, is “woefully out of date,” the groups said in their petition. They cite the rapid warming and changes the Arctic region has experienced, noting that some ice-dependent species, such as polar bears, have received Endangered Species Act protection since the last review. They also raise concerns about the impacts of thawing permafrost on pipeline infrastructure. While the next environmental review is due in about a decade, that’s too long to wait, they argue.

“Every drop of oil that moves through the pipeline is more climate destruction, both here in Alaska and around the world,” said Cooper Freeman, Alaska director for the Center for Biological Diversity. “The longer we wait to have this difficult conversation about the inevitable — because we need to get off fossil fuels and we need to do it urgently — the harder it will be for Alaska.”

Michelle Egan, a spokeswoman for pipeline operator Alyeska Pipeline Service Co., said in a statement that the company continues to “cooperate with our many federal and state regulatory partners as we meet our commitments to safe and environmentally responsible operations. We are steadfast and committed to being a prudent operator, safely and reliably transporting oil from Alaska’s North Slope into the future.”

Freeman said Interior can accept the groups’ request or deny it, which the groups can challenge. If the Interior does not respond in what would be considered a reasonable time, the groups could seek to compel a response through the courts, he said.

Interior had no comment, spokesman Giovanni Rocco said by email.

The petition asks that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which belongs to the Interior, evaluate a number of options that include not renewing the right-of-way, issuing a right-of-way for a period of 10 years or less to allow for “Reevaluation landscape in which TAPS operates,” placing potential limits on the amount of oil flowing through the pipeline and requiring North Slope oil producers to adopt emissions controls for their operations.

The groups say “the only rational conclusion to that analysis will be a managed shutdown of the pipeline,” and their petition calls on the land management agency to begin work on such a plan. It does not suggest a timeline for a phase-out.

“We are not asking for the pipeline to be closed tomorrow. We’re saying you need to start the conversation now,” Freeman said. “That includes broad conversation, engagement, consultation with communities across Alaska, particularly on the North Slope. … The longer we wait, the more pain for people, wildlife and the climate, especially here in Alaska.”

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