-
- Welcome to the Landscape, your show about America's parks
and public lands.
I'm Erin Weiss with the Center
for Western Priorities hanging out up the hill from Denver
in beautiful Evergreen, Colorado this week.
- And I'm Kate Retinger in downtown Salt Lake City.
Today on the show, we're talking to the executive director
of the Alaska Wilderness League about some big steps
to protect public lands in Alaska, made
by the Biden administration this spring.
But before we do that, let's do the news.
- Uh, well, the big news since our last episode is
that President Biden has ended new coal leasing in the
Powder River Basin, which is, of course,
the largest coal producing region in the us.
This is a very big deal.
The president deserves a hardy round of applause here.
Of course, this is key to the energy transition According
to earth justice, this move will keep nearly 6 billion tons
of coal in the ground.
Now, this, uh, decision is the result
of a court case brought by conservation groups over
to Trump Era, bureau
of Land Management Resource Management plans
in the Powder River Basin.
That's located mo mainly in Wyoming,
little bit into Montana.
In 2022, a federal judge found in favor of the groups saying
that those plans didn't address the public health
consequences of coal mining.
The revised plans, which were just released last week,
disallow future coal leasing,
citing the negative environmental
and health impacts of coal mining.
It does not mean that coal mining ends immediately, uh,
but in the Wyoming side, it projects coal mining would end
around 2040, maybe continuing up through 2060 in Montana.
But of course, also at this rate,
when you look at these new EPA coal regulations, uh,
about pollution, all of that also then projects
that all coal power, uh,
in America could be done wound down by 2045.
- We're joined today by Kristen Miller, executive director
of the Alaska Wilderness League.
Kristen, thank you so much for being here.
- Yeah, thank you for having me.
- So let's start off with, um, sort of the biggest news, um,
the, the protections
for the National Petroleum Reserve, Alaska.
What is the NPRA and what is inside of it?
- Yeah, so the NPRA, uh, is the, unfortunately named
National Petroleum Reserve, Alaska.
We like to call it the Western Arctic.
This is a piece of land located in the very remote,
northwest corner of Alaska.
It is our nation's largest piece of public land managed by
the Bureau of Land Management.
The Western Arctic is huge.
It's this vast landscape of wilderness quality lands.
It's got wild rivers, mountains, globally
recognized wetlands, tundra, all in an area the size
of the entire state of Indiana.
It is huge,
but it exists almost completely in its natural state.
It's, it's almost completely untouched
by industrial development.
And within these lands, there are significant geological
cultural, ecological values.
It's home to plants
and animals that you don't see anywhere else In the USA,
for example, there's two caribou herds
that call this place home with hundreds
of thousands of caribou.
There are millions of migratory birds that come
to this region every year to nest and molten live and live.
There's tens of thousands of molten geese. There's raptors.
There's these huge concentrations of beluga whales
and mar other marine mammals that people love,
like the walrus and the polar bear.
It's really quite a biodiversity wonderland.
And because of that, uh, it's home
to more than 40 anupa communities that have lived there
for thousands of years.
And most of those communities still today harvest all
or some of their food
and subsistence resources from these lands.
So it's pretty amazing.
Um, but unfortunately it's also home
to active oil and gas development.
And so it's been under threat,
not only from the continuation,
but the expansion of that development.
- So on top of all of that, of course,
you have climate change,
and as we know, Alaska is feeling the brunt of that, more of
that faster than just about anywhere else on the planet.
- Yeah, yeah, that's true.
Um, I think, I think everybody at this point understands
and accepts that climate change is really significantly
contributing to habitat loss
and the biodiversity loss that we've seen globally.
But this is especially the case in Alaska and the Arctic
and the Arctic specifically,
it's warming four times faster than the rest of the planet.
And then what's more for the area that we're talking about,
the Western Arctic, uh,
there are significant oil extraction activities.
So these lands are feeling impacts from the on the ground
activity, and that is coupled
with the longer term impacts from the burning
of oil and climate change.
So in this region, that's meant shorter winters, uh,
permafrost, that's melting, changing vegetation.
And all of this sort of in turn contributes
to the displacement, the displacement of wildlife.
It's this com combination of issues
that has significant impacts,
and it's happening so fast, it's hard to even
adequately track it all with traditional science.
I've talked to people that live in the Arctic
that tell stories about how in recent years,
they've only seen a handful of caribou coming
through their villages during harvesting season,
when traditionally they've relied on hundreds,
if not thousands of animals to migrate through there
to feed their entire community or other communities.
This has been their way of life for thousands of years,
and they've been seeing these changes just in the last five,
10, and 20 years.
Another example that's probably more nationally known
as just the polar bear.
The polar bear has habitat in the Western Arctic.
Uh, the polar bears are losing weight at the time
of year when they're supposed to be gaining weight
because there's so much unpredictability in sea ice,
and the sea ice just isn't there for them to go out
and hunt the seals that they rely on to feed them
for the entire year.
Similarly, all through Alaska,
you're seeing devastating situations with salmon.
Salmon no longer in many areas
can swim all the way upstream.
It gets so warm, they're going back to their spawning areas.
They're going back to their homes to give, to lay eggs,
and they die in the trip home because the water is so hot.
So there's, there's so many stories like this in Alaska
that the effects of climate change in this
region are so significant.
- Kristen, I wanna ask you about the, the unfortunate name
of the NPRA.
Where did that come from and how was it designated?
- Yeah, so, uh, the, the National Petroleum Reserve Alaska,
uh, it was originally established in 1923
as a petroleum reserve.
So this was in between World War I and World War ii,
and it existed that way for a really long time until 1976.
And in 1976, it was actually,
the management was actually transferred
to the Department of Interior.
And so when that happened, uh, the law
that transferred the land, it called for continuation
of the oil and gas program that existed there
to meet the energy needs of our nation.
But at the same time, it called for the maximum protection
of fish and wildlife habitat during any oil
and gas development.
So that's the history, despite having such a long history
as a petroleum reserve, uh, actual oil
and gas development within the bounds
of the reserve didn't happen in 2004.
So that's just about 20 years of development.
And over that same 20 years
that this development has been just starting
to advance into the Western Arctic, we've also been learning
and confirming that the biodiversity
and climate crisis necessitate that we have to find the end
to massive oil and gas development throughout the country,
but especially in Alaska
where the impacts have been so severe.
- Um, can you say a little bit more about the impact
of climate change on oil and gas development There?
I I've read about the permafrost melting.
Is it getting harder?
Is it more dangerous to develop oil and gas in this area?
- I think there's a lot of unpredictability
with the melting permafrost.
It certainly impacts the infrastructure.
It also makes the damage caused
by the development so severe.
And then you have situations like there was a gas leak
outside of XI that caused a lot of fear, uh, among the,
the people that live in Xi uh, uh, the year before last.
And it's hard to
understand the exact reasons stuff like that is happening.
You know, a lot of it has to do
with the instability of infrastructure.
And like I said, it's really hard for the science
and all of the technology to keep up with the amount
that things are changing, uh, especially
with the permafrost in Alaska.
- So that brings us to how the NPRA is managed today,
and in particular with this NPRA rule,
these designated special areas, um,
which is one of these terms that sounds unbelievably broad,
but actually has some, some very specific meaning when it
comes to NPRA.
Can you, can you explain what these areas are?
How did they get designated and,
and what happens now that you have this special designation?
- Yeah, yeah. I always say to people, we didn't just decide
to start calling them special areas.
Even though they are special areas,
they're actually designated officially legally designated
as special areas.
So as part of that same law that transferred the management
of the Western Arctic over to the Department of Interior,
as I said, that law calls for maximum protection
of the areas within the Western Arctic that have
the most extraordinary ecological significance.
And so those, there was studies that were done,
areas were identified,
and then to better protect those ecological values
and those specifically significant areas,
it ended up being 13 million acres across the Western Arctic
that were designated as five different special areas under
DOIs management over the history
of their management of this land.
And that those areas are better
protected for future generations.
Three of the special areas were actually designated when the
law in the law that transferred the land over
to de the Department of Interior.
So that's Toch Puck Lake special area, which was protected
because of its, uh, importance to micro prairie bird
and waterfowl habitat.
The Utica River Upland special area was designated
and recognized for providing critical habitat
for the caribou, the Western arctic herd
and the Coalville River special area was designated
recognized for its important critical nesting habitat
for Arctic peregrine falcons.
So those were designated in the law,
and then they were also expanded
and, um, granted more protections in various land
management plans over time.
And then two other special areas were actually created
during land management planning processes.
One was a Clic Lagoon special area, which was designated
because of its important habitat
for marine mammals under George W. Bush.
And, uh, the PID Bay special area was designated
because of its importance to marine mammals and staging
and migration for water, uh, fowl and shore birds.
And that was designated in a planning process
under President Obama.
So that's just a little example of the bipartisan priority
of protecting the most special areas of the Western artery.
- And and how many acres are we talking about in total then?
For special areas inside the NPRA
- 13 million acres are protected as special areas.
Um, but there are actually some of those areas
that do have active oil and gas leases on them.
- So Kristen, you mentioned a few communities earlier.
Um, can you tell us a little bit about what the human
like footprint is in, in the NPRA or outside of the NPRA and
and how people use the resources within it,
like caribou and whatnot?
- There are 40 communities.
There are probably more than 40 communities in the region in
the Western Arctic and outside of, uh,
the actual National Petroleum Reserve,
and then communities that are within the National Petroleum
Reserve, and these are Anup indigenous villages
that have basically lived in this region,
region since time immemorial.
They rely on the Western Arctic
and the central arctic caribou herd.
Uh, they rely on these animals for their subsistence food,
and they use every part of the animal
for their culture and their way of life.
They subsist on wailing
and many ducks, many of the animals that go into the region.
And so this biodiversity, this, these resources
of the Western Arctic that support this significant
confluence of so many different animals, this is the,
these are the same resources
that have been the subsistence livelihood
and the subsistence way of life
of these communities for thousands of years.
- So that brings us then to
what the Biden administration just did,
we increasing protections for those 13 million acres
of special areas.
Uh, increasing protection is again, a pretty broad term
that can mean a lot of things.
So how, how significant is this change
that we just saw in the NPRA rule?
- Yeah, so big picture in the same sort of time period
that we're talking about in these recent decades
that we have all come to understand
how global climate change
and biodiversity loss are dramatically affecting all
of us in the Arctic during the same time period.
The regulations that govern the management
of the Western Arctic, this particular piece
of land hadn't, hadn't changed at all.
And so it's been important to us at Alaska Wilderness League
to see a modernization
of the way the Western Arctic is managed in light
of the current climate crisis.
And that is what the Biden administration set out at taking
a step towards doing with this regulation.
So a little bit more specifically, uh,
what the regulation does is it reaffirms
that there is a presumption against any new leasing
and infrastructure within those 13 million
acres of special areas.
And then even a little bit more specifically,
it prohibits any new leasing on the 10 plus million
of acres within those special areas
that don't already have leases.
So that's, that's really important.
Um, it also reinforces
and starts to better define exactly what they mean
by maximum protection.
It hadn't really been well defined for a, a number
of, for all of these decades.
And so we're getting a better sense of what it means
and what kind of things that we can do
to safeguard the significant resource values
of these special areas.
It clarifies the durability of the special areas.
So that means that once a special area is created,
it is clear that that special area is gonna remain
unless, uh, they're, they can prove that the unique values
and characteristics that the area was originally set aside
to protect basically no longer exists.
So that's a pretty strong standard to make sure
that those special areas are there for a long time.
And then it is establishes a regular process
to determine whether they need to expand
the existing special areas or create new special areas.
- And and that's every five years?
- It's every 10 years now.
- 10 years. Every 10 years now. Okay.
Um, and so, uh, I would presume then
with the speed at which climate change is affecting the
Arctic, we could see then more special areas
in 2034.
Is that fair? Or something you would hope to see?
- Oh, actually even more so, uh, what,
what we were also very excited about is when this rule was
finalized, when the Biden administration made the
announcement, they also announced
that they are gonna start a process.
- Oh, right now 20. Okay, so 20, 24, 25, yep.
Sign significant. Great.
- Yeah. Yeah. So we're expecting in the next couple weeks a
request for information in which there will be a public
comment period, and we can all weigh in on whether we want
to see more values protected, special areas
that exist expanded or, or new special areas.
So that's, that's gonna be a big focus going forward.
- Kristen, this feels like a good time to ask.
Um, how was wilderness, sorry.
How was the Alaska Wilderness League involved in advocating
for these changes and, um,
how will you guys engage in the process
of designating new special areas?
- Yeah, this has been a huge priority
for the Alaska wilderness.
We league, uh, we've, we've been actually working for
the protection of the Western Arctic for decades.
So this is a issue that we've cared about
for a really long time.
And then in light of the climate crisis
and all the work that we're doing today, this idea
of updating the management of the Western Arctic in light
of the climate crisis has been a priority ever since
President Biden came into office.
So we were very excited
and involved in, in this effort, you know, some
of the things we do, we educate our members,
we educate the public about the issue.
We work really hard to make sure the story of the landscape
and the story of the people is really elevated in the
media and all around the country.
And we engage deeply in the effort
to bring people's comments to decision makers
and to ourselves, uh,
engage in the comment making progress pro process
with decision makers.
So yeah, it was really
important and we were really involved.
- Alright, let's move from NPRA to the other big Alaska
announcement, uh, in April, which was
canceling the proposed Ambler Mining Road.
We've talked about it before on this podcast,
but I think it was several years back.
So just refresh us, what was that proposal
and what would it have meant if this road had gotten built?
- Yeah. So the proposed Ambler Road would've been a 200
plus mile industrial corridor on the south side
of the brook of the Brooks Range.
So this is basically south of the western arctic
that we're talking about, close to the gates
of the Arctic National Preserve.
The proposed road, if you looked at the proposal,
it would've risked more than 1400 acres of wetlands.
It would've crossed 300, or sorry, 3000 streams.
It would've cut through the gates of the Arctic preserve,
it would've cut through salmon spawning habitat.
It would've cut through the migration route
of the western arctic caribou herd.
So it had a lot of really significant on the ground
threats of impact.
And then beyond that, the, what the road was actually being
proposed for was a massive industrial complex
that would've supported a copper mine into the future,
a huge open pick, copper mine.
And that would've really threatened all the local fisheries
and many, many subsistence resources for local communities.
So what happened recently is the final environmental impact
statement was released by the Biden administration.
And right now they have preferred,
they have shown the preferred alternative to be no road.
And so we need to make sure that they hear
that we really support that decision over the next, not 30,
now, maybe 20 days.
not exactly.
- So, so not final final, but heading towards a final No.
- Yes. - Um, Kristin, from what I understand,
that road would've also cut through part of gates
of the Arctic National Park and Preserve.
Um, why is that a problem?
- Yeah, so, uh, it would've cut through 20 miles
of globally significant national park and preserve.
One of the reasons the gates of the Arctic Park exist is
to protect these full scale habitats for essential fish
and wildlife populations.
So you're talking about caribou, grizzly bears, wolves,
and these are species that require a lot of room to thrive
and a lot of room to maintain their habitat.
Uh, the gates, this is part
of the reason why it was so exciting to us.
Uh, much of the reason why it was so exciting to us
that the Biden administration did these
two decisions together.
It's 'cause it really tells the story of
what you have the opportunity to protect.
In Alaska, the gates of the Arctic
and the Western Arctic have the same
caribou herd that migrate through.
And these animals don't know the bounds.
They don't know where the gates of the Arctic ends
and the western Arctic begins.
This is just where they migrate.
And so these are entire landscapes that support ecology
and it support entire ecosystems.
And we have the opportunity in Alaska
to still protect at that level.
And the Biden administration looking at these two deci
decisions together and understanding the values
and how they interrelate
and the interconnectedness of all
of these areas was so important.
And that is what is gonna be able
to help us keep this Arctic region long into the future.
And we have the opportunity to do that in Alaska,
unlike anywhere else in the United States. Right.
- I I think it's probably important to point out folks here,
national Park and they may think like Yellowstone or Glacier
or Rocky Mountain where you have roads, you know,
big heavily trafficked roads running
through the national park that are part of the draw
of the park as effectively a tourist attraction.
And that is decidedly not gates of the Arctic.
- Yeah, there is one road once you get to Fairbanks
and a little bit north, there's then one road
that you can take that takes you straight
up to the top of Alaska.
And that's, you know, almost the half the land mass
of central Alaska
and North has no roads, has no roads,
interconnected road system.
So yeah, in order to get the gates of the Arctic,
you can drive up that one road,
but then you have to hike in
for those 20 plus miles in order to
- You hit the park gate and that's it.
Yeah.
- Kristen, I'm curious, hearing you talk about these two
decisions, um, it seems like a, a pretty big deal
for Alaska overall.
Would you say this is some of one of the biggest
steps forward in conservation in Alaska
since like Jimmy Carter?
Or like, can you put this in historical perspective for us?
How big of a deal are these two decisions
coming down at the same time?
- I think it's a huge deal for conservation
and it's a huge deal for the day and age in which we are in.
I think the,
the Western Arctic was originally set aside a hundred years
ago for oil and gas development.
And we really focus in now on the part of the law
that says we need to develop it
for the energy needs of our nation.
The energy needs of our nation have now have
to include the climate crisis.
And we really have to look at what we're doing
from an energy perspective.
And that has to include stopping
the development of oil and gas.
And that is just a different place than we were when this
was originally set aside.
And now we are seeing the Biden administration recognize
that and recognize it through the,
the actual formal management.
And similar with the LER road, we are just recognizing
that we need to take the, we have lost
so much in the lower 48
and it was incremental development over hundreds of years.
And, and that hasn't happened in many parts of Alaska.
And we need to learn from the mistakes of the past
and these are decisions that are gonna make sure
that we have these incredible,
incredible resources for generations to come.
- So what's next
for Alaska Wilderness Lead have these two big victories?
On the other hand, we haven't talked about the Willow
decision, which obviously, uh, US
and many other groups were very critical
of approving that project.
So what's next for your group?
How do you move forward and what are your priorities?
- Yeah, I think we just talked about the special area
process that's gonna be really important to us.
And we really wanna see
and make sure that there are no more willows ever approved
in this area, ever approved in the Arctic.
That is incredibly important.
That's what the opportunity we have
with this special area process.
So we're gonna be doing a lot
of work looking at the science, talking
to the people on the ground
and understanding what values aren't yet protected
and what areas aren't yet protected
and what extra protections are needed
because of the threat of oil and gas development.
And we need to turn around this trajectory
of allowing more oil
and make sure we don't see any more willows.
So that's gonna be really important to us going forward.
On the other side of the Arctic is also the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge, which is an area
that many people from across the country have fought
to protect for decades.
There is a mandated lease sale that has
to happen in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge,
but as we, as we sit here today, there is no,
there are no leases held in the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge on the coastal plane.
There is o no oil and gas development in the coastal plane.
And I think we can keep it that way if we keep fighting.
And so we wanna get to the end of the year of
that mandated lease sale
with no leases held on the coastal plan
of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge so
that we also have the opportunity to protect
that amazing landscape for generations.
- Kristen, quick clarifying question there.
So the, the BLMI am assuming they will hold that auction,
and is the goal to just ensure that no companies bid?
Or are you trying to have the BLM shrink the,
the parcels available in that auction?
- Uh, there's lots of options. There's lots of options.
Right now what's happening is there's,
the environmental impact statement is being done,
and so that needs to be written away.
That makes sure that the protection
of the resource is the priority in that plan.
I think once you have an environmental impact statement
that is as protective as possible
and you get to a lease sale, it's gonna be really
unattractive to bid.
You know, this is a place that not, not one American wants
to see developed.
When there, when we held the last lease sale,
no major oil companies showed up.
And so that's the scenario that we really wanna see again,
in part because it's gonna be really unattractive
to develop there because there's so much opposition,
because there's so many, um, uh, re parts
of the regulation that are aiming to protect it.
And so, and then the administration will hold a lease sale,
but I think it's gonna be a lease sale
that nobody wants to engage in.
- Got it. Got it. Making it kind of toxic to even touch.
- Yeah. - Great.
Well, Kristen, thank you so much for your time today.
Um, again, we have Kristen Miller, executive director
of the Alaska Wilderness League here,
and we just really enjoyed this conversation.
- Yeah, thanks guys. It was so great to talk to you.
- Here's some good news. Interior Secretary Deb Holland
visited the proposed Chuck Wall National Monument
in southern California.
Over the weekend, the proposed monument includes 600,000
acres of desert adjacent to Joshua Tree National Park,
a visit from Holland Signals,
the administration is taking the monument proposal seriously
and they could hold a community forum
about the monument soon.
We'll stay tuned for that and keep you all updated.
- Well, that is all for today, folks.
Remember, you can reach us
by email podcast@westernpriorities.org.
Also track us down on Threads
or TikTok, where Sterling continues
to do a spectacular job telling complicated stories
in less than 90 seconds.
We always love to hear from you.
Uh, of course, if you have thoughts about any of this
or public lands in general, send them our way.
- Thanks to Kristen for her time today
and her tireless advocacy for Alaska Public Lands.
And as always, thank you for listening to the landscape.