(AP) The federal government wants 387,000 more acres available for oil and gas drilling in Alaska, a proposal criticized by environmentalists.

The move announced Wednesday is part of a proposed Bureau of Land Management amendment to a 1998 development plan for the northeastern region of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska.

Environmentalists said the plan would endanger lands rich in sensitive wetlands and wildlife habitats.

But Henri Bisson, state director for the federal Bureau of Land Management, said the expansion is necessary and would increase potential reserves from 600 million barrels to 2.1 billion barrels.

"We believe we've picked the right course," he said.

Originally, 87 percent of the 4.6 million acres in the region along the state's North Slope was to be made available for oil and gas development leases. The new plan would open about 96 percent.

Eleanor Huffines, regional director of The Wilderness Society, said the announcement amounts to broken promises to preserve sensitive wildlife habitats around Teshekpuk Lake in northern Alaska.

"It's an incredible rollback that the agency is not acknowledging to the public," Huffines said. "This is not the direction we should be headed in."

The Alaskan reserve covers about 23.5 million acres of public land west of Prudhoe Bay and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Estimates of total oil reserves in the region range from about 6 billion to 13 billion barrels of oil.

Seven environmental groups, including The Wilderness Society, previously sued in federal court to prevent development in the area.

The lawsuit alleges oil and gas drilling in the region violates environmental protection laws and ignores sensitive habitats for birds, wildlife and whales. A judge denied a request for a temporary injunction and is still considering the lawsuit.

Public meetings on the new proposal will be held across Alaska and in Washington, D.C., over the next month. Final approval rests with the Interior Department.

The additional acreage is within the Barrow Arch, a potentially oil-rich geologic vein running through the reserve that includes caribou and waterfowl habitats.

I look at this and think of Africa. A nation that was filled with animals that are now in the process of being annihilated by people looking for food. We have no plans to eat the caribou, hey will make out just fine , we will take every precaution to see they survive. Let this woman and her conservation agenda go to Africa and try to save the animals there. Better be careful though you might turn into food.

Originally, 87 percent of the 4.6 million acres in the region along the state's North Slope was to be made available for oil and gas development leases.

Seems only those of us who live in Alaska remember this little detail. It mystifies me how it has been spun that anyone has broken any promises. The land went into Federal hands with this promise on the table, but the Dems would have you believe that it is something that the Republicans have just come up with to inflate the pockets of oil companies. One more time for anyone who could possibly have not been enlightened on this tiny fact. The caribou heards of the north slope have trippled since the building of the Alaska pipe line. So much so that they are a problem. I could go on about other environmental lies (especially those bogus pictures they use to depict nothing but desert wasteland), but there isn't enough print available.

Let me get this straight- We are talking about 4.4 million acres (96% of the 4.6 million) out of 23.5 MILLION?!?!

That is, 4,416,000 out of 23,500,000? 18%??????

SCREW THAT - These environmental whackos (watermelons, all of 'em!) are obstructing us from making PRODUCTIVE use of a VERY SMALL AMOUNT OF LAND! If the BLM caves in to this crackpot, we deserve whatever we get. END RADICAL ENVIRONMENTALISM: OUTLAW LAWYERS.

Sheesh...

"There is well drilling all over Oklahoma and Texas and the environmentalists don't say a word. Why is Alaska any different? Because we have been hoodwinked by the enviro-nuts. Time to get serious and stop letting these crazies have their way. The land is spoiled by drilling and the animals don't suffer either. This is nothing but lies."

Very true. In fact, if you *don't* drill up the oil, eventually it will seep up to the top and pollute the surface, as happened in downtown Los Angeles with the La Brea Tar Pits.

Tar pit remains help rewrite Los Angeles' ancient history

August 28, 2000
Web posted at: 2:08 PM EDT (1808 GMT)

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Norbert Labuguen squeezes a turkey baster to suck up globs of asphalt while Gary Takeuchi uses dental picks and brushes to remove flaky sand from an ancient bison bone that last saw light 28,000 years ago.

It's grueling, uncomfortable work made more difficult by temperatures of about 90 F (32 C) and the clumpy, smelly oil that sticks to clothes, skin and everything else that makes its way into one of Los Angeles' fabled La Brea Tar Pits.

...


Volunteer excavator Norbert Labuguen uses a turkey baster to suck up globs of liquid tar and water from Tar Pit 91

The gooey substance -- the lowest grade of crude oil -- protects the bones from the ravages of time better than the best plastic surgeon.

"The asphalt itself is a preservative," Shaw said. "It saturates the bones and keeps water from petrifying or destroying it."

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